Images From Paradise Syndrome Remastered
StarTrek.com have put up a couple of images from "The Paradise Syndrome" Remastered. Look it’s a rock.
Articles by Anthony Pascale
Abrams’ Episode of The Office Airs Tonight
We still don’t know if JJ Abrams will direct Star Trek XI, but we do know that he directed an episode of The Office. When TrekMovie.com interviewed Abrams last year he mentioned how much he loved the hit NBC comedy, so much so that he squeezed in directing one in between the million other projects he has going. It will be interesting if we see Dwight make a reference to Lost again. The JJ Abrams created show has come up on The Office and Dwight even has a blog posting about what would happen if the Battlestar Galactica crash landed on the Lost island (best line ‘first of all, they would have lasers’). In other Lost news, after seeing a big dip in ratings Lost has started to climb back up but is still off from its highs of the past. Regarding Trek XI, still cannot confirm if Abrams has made any decision yet regarding directing. Abrams good taste and ability to direct comedy is perhaps a clue that we may see some of that TOS trademark humor in Star Trek XI. Abrams’ The Office episode "Cocktails" airs tonight on NBC at 8:30. More info and a preview at TV.com.
Paradise Syndrome Remastered Preview
StarTrek.com have put up a preview for this weekend’s "Paradise Syndrome" Remastered. click image to play in WMP or Click Here for QT
Abrams, Lost & MI:III Receive Saturn Nominations
Star Trek XI producer (and possible director) JJ Abrams has received a Saturn Award nomination as best director for Mission: Impossible III. In addition the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror have nominated M:I:III for best action/adventure thriller. In the directors category Abrams will be going head to head with fellow Trekkie Bryan Singer for Superman Returns. Singer’s Superman racked in a total of 10 nominations and M:I:III garnered a total of 5. Lost (produced by both Trek XI producers JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof) led the TV nominations with a total of 6, including best series.
Posters, Directors, Books, Robots, Psuedosience and Paramount Politics in a Presidents Day Roundup
Here are some some bite sized Trek nuggets to hold you over until the next item on TOSR or STXI. To promote TOSR StarTrek.com is running a giveaway for a new poster for Star Trek Remastered. Got to this page to enter to win this 2′ x 3′ poster made for syndicated stations. SciFi.com ran a poll on who should direct Star Trek XI and Joss Whedon came out on top with almost half the votes. Abrams came in 2nd to last with only 14%, click here for full results.
History Channel Airing Trek Documentaries – Reviews Not So Good
The History Channel is taking a break from its regular schedule of shows on ancient Rome and World War II to take a look at the history of Star Trek. They are running two documentaries, the first of which ‘Star Trek Tech’ will air tonight (Sunday) at 9pm. ‘Tech’ is a regular show that devotes each episode the the technology of a particular time period or event or in this case a fictional universe. The second and bigger documentary is ‘Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier’, a two hour retrospective on Trek hosted by Leonard Nimoy (airing Monday at 9 pm). ‘Beyond the Final Frontier’ focuses much of its attention on the Christies auction and includes interviews with actors from each of the Trek series, but notably not William Shatner. There are already some reviews in on the longer doc and so far they are mixed at best.
Amok Time via Futurama [UPDATE: plus Cable Guy, Dexters Laboratory and The Simpsons]
"Amok Time" is probably one of the most parodied episodes of Star Trek…here are 3 examples…first up from Futurama
Remastered “Amok Time” Airs Today – T’Bring It On
Pon Farr has got Spock feelin’ frisky and to make it worse he has to fight Kirk to work it out of his system. Preview | Episode Info | Show times Another Trek classic with some of the best Kirk, Spock, McCoy character moments. Plus probably most memorable score of the series. This week doesnt offer CBS Digital with much to work with, but what they have they are really going to town on… New matte painting replacing live action ‘troika’ walk to arena on Vulcan New matte painting replacing live action establishing shot of arena plus a few Enterprise shots including some around planet Vulcan
Spinrad Talks TOSR Doomsday – Plus A New VideoBlog On ‘Saving Star Trek’
Norman Spinrad, the writer of "The Doomsday Machine" has now seen the new remastered version and gave some of his reactions to TrekMovie.com. TrekMovie.com: What did you think of it?Norman Spinrad: I haven’t watched it at all for a while and it is a strange experience. My first take is that everything looked cleaner – not just the effects but the whole episode looked cleaned up. For the new special effects it seems the biggest change is that they seem to be able to do motion a lot better. Things are moving in a more complicated way. The doomsday machine isn’t that different. The way I conceived it, it was something else. It should look both alive and robotic..and neither the new or the old looked either.
Shatner Talks About The Death Of Kirk
In a recent ShatnerVision, The Shat Talks about how it came to be that Kirk died in Generations. Shatner Responds: The Death Of Captain Kirk
McAvoy Still Talking Trek – Hopes Trek XI Will Show The Man Behind Scotty
James McAvoy is again kind of sort of hinting that maybe there is something to the rumor that he may be involved in Star Trek XI. In a new interview with ComingSoon.net the subject of Trek came up: CS: I was reading on the Internet about someone asking you about playing Scotty in a Star Trek movie, probably just because you’re Scottish. McAvoy: I know! I’m a huge Star Trek fan. No, I don’t know what’s going to happen with that. It might happen, it might not.
Images From Amok Time Remastered – CBS Look to TAS and STIII For Inspiration
CBS have provided a couple of higher res images from Amok Time Remastered
Stewart: Star Trek Was A ‘Calamity’
Patrick Stewart seems to be continuing to distance himself from Star Trek and Jean Luc Picard. In an interview with The Stage, the veteran actor talks about the life changing event in 1986 when he choose to do Star Trek: The Next Generation instead of taking a role in "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf" on the London stage. I was a different actor after that — doing that kind of play, and finally being able to make truth of an emotional commitment to a role like that in such a small, exposing theatre, with the support of three magnificent actors [Billie Whitelaw, Saskia Reeves and Matthew Marsh], made all the difference to me. The calamity that then happened to me was that I was offered Star Trek: The Next Generation. […]It did change many, many things, and I’m immensely grateful for that. I have worked hard not in any sense to feel they were wasted years —though time is a factor in all of this, and I now have a lot of catching up to do. I feel that acutely — not that there have been lost opportunities, but that there are things I might have done and I’ve got to do a lot of them quickly now.
More Rumors: Abrams To Direct Dark Tower Adaptation? [UPDATED: Rumor somewhat confirmed]
The ‘Abrams is going to direct another movie’ rumors keep flying. Now IGN is reporting that Abrams will direct an adaptation of the Stephen King series "The Dark Tower." IGN claim their sources indicate an announcement is forthcoming, but are not sure if the project is for TV or film. Dark Tower is a popular 7 book series that mixes elements of sci-fi, fantasy and westerns. IGN speculate that the Dark Tower project may related to the previously reported mysterious "Cloverfield" project. TrekMovie.com has recently confirmed that Abrams does have multiple projects in the works (including one called Cloverfield) and that he is still considering directing Trek XI. Sources close to the production indicate that Trek XI news should also be forthcoming. Hopefully soon all the various Abrams projects and his involvement will be clarified. Even if Abrams does not direct Trek XI, all indications are that he will still produce and that the project is still moving forward (but is yet to get the official ‘green light’). UPDATE: Hollywood Repoter confirms talks between King and Abrams
CBS Digital Guys Use TrekMovie.com To Play Prank On Boss
We all know that "Doomsday" was the big one for CBS-Digital, and that Special Effects Supervisor Niel Wray went a bit grey getting it finished. Well the effects team thought they would play a little prank on Niel and try and convince him that eagle eyed TrekMovie.com readers spotted an error in the final product (in the trailer). To that end they recreated a fake version of TrekMovie.com with a faked trailer and some rewritten comments…
Nimoy Wanted STIV To “Lighten Up” – OK Being Typecast
Leonard Nimoy has had a long and successful career and now says he can trace much of that success back to Star Trek. In a new interview with FatFreeFilms he talks about how Trek opened up many opportunities for him to both act and direct. After directing Star Trek III, Nimoy went on to direct a number of films including the hit comedy 3 Men and a Baby. Regarding humor, the man who portrayed the original emotionless Vulcan talks about why he wanted Star Trek IV to have a sense of humor: when we developed Star Trek IV I said going in "this film has to lighten up". We have been dealing with death and destruction in these Star Trek movies and we have had enough of that. Spock died and Kirk’s son died and the Klingons were all being killed, and I said "Enough – lets find a way to have a lighter tone. In spite of the fact that Earth is being jeopardized we have got to find some humor." And I think we did.
Spinrad VideoBlog On History Of Doomsday
After contacting Norman Spinrad to talk about his "The Doomsday Machine" he was inspired to do a video on the history of the project. Spinrad talks about how the Decker role was intented for a different actor, how William Shatner himself made some changes to the script and why the planet killer wasn’t exactly as he intended.
Remastered “The Doomsday Machine” Airs Today – as if you didn’t know
Kirk and crew find a weapon of mass destruction, and an unshaven superior officer obsessed with taking it down. Preview | Ep. Info | Show times A classic if there ever was one. CBS have been working on this for months with over 100 new effects shots, you will see… Lots of shots of the Enterprise including multiple shots of weapons firing A seriously messed up USS Constellation A big scary planet killer A shuttle and shuttle bay and all of the above from some new angles
Spinrad On The Transparent Doomsday Machine
Some have noted that CBS’s new CGI Doomsday machine doesn’t have that partially translucent look of the original. Well their reasoning is simple, it was never supposed to have it. Mike Okuda tells TrekMovie.com that he talked to the the original writer for the episode Norman Spinrad about this issue. According to Mike, here is what Spinrad had to say: It was a glitch, not at all intentional. The FX was really primitive, simple blue screen stuff, which is why you can also see fringes around a lot of spaceships and so forth against star backgrounds.
Abrams & Trek XI Update
This has been a busy week for JJ Abrams and Trek XI rumors, here is what we know. The decision on the green light for Trek XI is still pending, but things look good for it to start pre-production in the coming weeks. Multiple sources close to the production tell TrekMovie.com that Abrams is still involved in Trek XI as well as other projects at Paramount as part of his multi picture deal. We have learned that one of these other projects is a horror film called "Cloverfield", but (contrary to rumors) it should have not impact Star Trek XI. We can also confirm that it is not related to a ghost story script called "The Battle for Cloverfield" which was to be made by Columbia before going dormant in 2003. Many of the preparations for Star Trek XI are already underway with inquiries on availability going out to various crew people. The art department is slated to start going in March, with set construction probably starting in late Spring. We have also been told that as many as 5 stages have been set aside for Star Trek XI, all of which have been used for Trek TV and film projects in the past. There is no word yet on Abrams directing, but that decision should be made soon. Again this is Hollywood so things can change, but that is the status as of now.
More Images From “Doomsday Machine” Remastered [UPDATE 3]
Our cup overfloweth with imagery from this weekend’s Remastered Doomsday. CBS have sent TrekMovie.com a couple of exclusive shots.
Star Trek Goes Mobile
CBS have launched the "CBS Mobile Store" providing exclusive content from CBS shows for mobile phones. Included in that are 12 Star Trek ringtone/voicetones and 15 wallpapers. For now the sounds are primarily from TOS and the images span all series. The wallpapers cost $1.99 and tones go for $2.49, or you can subscribe and get 3 CBS tones and 1 graphic for $6.49/month. Check em out at CBSMobile.com. Also in iTunes news – The Trek TV episodes (from Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: Enterprise) are temporarily not available due to technical difficulties. The Trek films are still available.
Abrams Still On For Star Trek XI – May Still Direct
Again with the rumors. Latino Review (who pushed last week’s debunked rumor that Abrams has left the project) have now morphed their rumor into saying that Abrams will not direct Star Trek XI, but will direct a different film called "Cloverfield" for Paramount. TrekMovie.com have been told by a source close to the production that this rumor is "so totally wrong". Abrams is still attached to the project as producer, the film is still going forward, and preperation are being made (including a number of stages being set aside). No decision or deal (either way) has yet been made regarding if Abrams will be directing the film. In addition Abrams confirmed to AICN that he is ‘not off Trek’.Some of this confusion may be due to the fact that Abrams has a multi-picture deal with Paramount; in fact Greg Grunberg recently told IGN Abrams had 3 projects going at the studio right now. As we have been reporting, this month may be where many of the big decisions on Trek are made so expect more rumors and more fact checking here at TrekMovie.com. And of course, things change so take it all in with the usual grains of salt.
Check Out This Killer Preview Of “Doomsday Machine” Remastered
StarTrek.com have put up a preview for this weekend’s highly anticipated "Doomsday Machine" Remastered. Oh my god oh my god oh my god… click image to play in WMP or Click Here for QT …and check out the images from Doomsday, UPDATE: and now more images
First Images From Doomsday! [UPDATED – Images Supersized]
UPDATE: CBS have sent over larger versions of the photos…clicky to embiggify them.
McAvoy Being Coy About Scotty Role
After a report in a Scottish tabloid about James McAvoy playing Scotty, TrekMovie.com reported McAvoy’s publicist stated the actor had not been approached for the role. At the time it was noted that even if he hadn’t been officially approached, there still may be some interest. Now in an interview with IESB McAvoy puts a little more wood on the rumor fire. When asked specifically if he had been approached he cryptically says "not in so many words." To add more confusion, the first time TrekMovie made inquiries on this subject we were told by some one in his camp that he had been approached, but then were told later (by his publicist) that he had not been. Until Trek XI has a budget it is unlikely that actors would be officially appraoched (especially for secondary roles). One thing is clear from the McAvoy interview, he is a real Star Trek fan (see below).
Shatner: Trek Is Like A Puppy
Here is another ShatnerVision (filmed yesterday) where Bill talks about the latest Trek XI rumors and his connection to Trek…using a colorful analogy. Shatner Talks About the Latest Star Trek XI Rumor
Grunberg: Trek XI Script Being Finished – Abrams ‘really, really happy with it’
J.J. Abrams best friend Greg Grunberg is giving William Shatner a run for his money on being the best blabber about Star Trek XI. IGN caught up with the Heroes star and he told them that he doesn’t have the script yet, but that Abrams "was finishing it last week". On the subject of the day regarding if Abrams will direct or not, Grunberg noted how the answer keeps changing: One week he tells me he’s not sure. One week, he told me, ‘No. I’m definitely just producing.’ And then just last week he was like, ‘Man, I’m really excited to do it.’ I said, ‘Are you doing it?’ He said, ‘I don’t know.’ I mean, honestly, it’s like he’s still really up in the air. But he’s really happy with the script. I know that. Really, really happy.
Big Decision Week For Star Trek XI?
TrekMovie.com has already reported that February is the point where Trek XI could move from ‘development’ to getting a green light (or not) and going into pre-production. In the last few weeks we have been getting various reports from sources around the studio that things are progressing and preperations are already being made to start some preliminary work the coming weeks. Now comes this from today’s Hollywood Reporter: Over at Paramount Pictures, for example, there is now a question whether J.J. Abrams will direct "Star Trek XI." …Although Paramount is hopeful that Abrams will captain the Starship Enterprise, sources said the director likely will make his decision later this week.
The Future of TrekMovie.com
Later this month TrekMovie.com will reach its 6 month anniversary. In its short life TrekMovie.com has quickly become the leading site for news and information for the world Star Trek. It has also attracted an active community of dedicated fans who can discuss their favorite franchise in an open minded and thoughtful way. The success of the site is due to a focus on exclusive content and the diversity and quality of our writer contributors. As we move towards the second half of our first year it is now time to start thinking about where to go from here. Below is some of the current thinking presented as both a ‘heads up’ as well as an opportunity for feedback. I know some Trekkies are often resistant to change, but there is always room for improvement.