This week there are some happenings for Star Trek on TV. Firstly the last Trek film, Nemesis, has its network TV premiere on the AMC Network, with more showings later in the week. Plus the Sci-Fi Channel has two Trek marathons lined up for Labor Day weekend. There are also some changes ahead in the fall schedule for Trek on cable.
There has often been much debate about terms like remake, reboot, etc as they apply to JJ Abrams new Star Trek movie. Simon Pegg (the new Scotty for Star Trek), a self-described geek who knows the difference, addressed this issue in the latest issue of Starlog Magazine.
Our friends at CreationTV had a chance to talk to Star Trek’s new Spock at the Star Trek con in Vegas. Zachary Quinto focused on how he is keeping the secrets and what it was like working with JJ Abrams and Leonard Nimoy, but also may have revealed something important about the film itself. He also talked about the upcoming season of Heroes, see below for video.
About a year ago TrekMovie.com broke the news that Zoe Saldana had been offered the role of Uhura in the new Star Trek. At the time it wasn’t clear if she would take the role, due to her obligations shooting another Sci-Fi blockbuster, Avatar. Now in a new interview Saldana reveals that the director of that film helped talk her into taking the Trek job. The actress also talks more more about Uhura and her possible future as well as JJ Abrams’ respect for the fans.
CBS Paramount has just released the final details on the September 16 release of the Star Trek: Alternate Realities DVD Fan Collective. We have a full list of the special features, more packing art and news on the special promotional figure giveaway. Plus the Season One of the Remastered Trek has dropped in price to fall in line with Seasons Two and Three.
The Annual fan run Dragon Con event in Atlanta, Georgia is considered on of the most fun con experiences. Each year it has a dedicated ‘Trek Trak’ full of celebrity panels, discussions, as well as some fun Trek-themed events. This year is shaping up to be a good one, with stars from every show slated to appear plus some fan film showings. See press release below for more.
Last week, actor Clifton Collins, Jr. confirmed the race that he and his fellow villains (including Eric Bana) will be playing in the new Star Trek movie. This week, the actor is talking about their make-up routine and what it was like working with director, J.J. Abrams. Plus TrekMovie has a bit more detail on what the villains will look like. [spoilers]
Next month the big Star Trek crossover book event of the year kicks off with David Mack’s "Star Trek Destiny: Gods of Night." Pocket Books has just released an excerpt from this first book of the upcoming trilogy. [see below, w/ spoilers]
You knew this was coming. Following on from our previous ‘new view’ of the original Comic Con 2008 Star Trek teaser posters, TrekMovie now brings you a ‘decolorized’ version of the four new posters which were revealed at Official Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas. Now you can get a better look at Cho, Pegg, Urban and Yelchin.
The original James T. Kirk, William Shatner, has often said that he doesn’t like to watch his own work, and in a new interview with South Africa’s The Times he goes into a bit more detail on why, saying that his Original Series self is a stranger to him.
In January Paramount launched a Facebook page for the new Star Trek movie and now they have added a MySpace page to their social networking mix. So you can now be ‘friends’ with JJ Abrams Star Trek movie. There isn’t much on it yet, but it is expected to grow over time.
The big Star Trek book event of 2008 is the crossover ‘Destiny’ trilogy by David Mack. Destiny brings together Jean Luc Picard and the USS Enterprise, William Riker on USS Titan, along with ties to both DS9 and even Enterprise. This week new synopses and the final cover for the series has been released. [see below, w/ spoilers]
In a new interview with Crave Online promoting his new film Bottle Shock, the new James T. Kirk for Star Trek, Chris Pine talked a lot about how he appraoched the role and specifically how he did (or did not) emulate William Shatner’s performance..
Way back in January TrekMovie reported that William Shatner, the original Captain Kirk, had hooked up with LiveAutographs.com, who offer personalized videotaped memorabilia signings. The event had sold out (twice) and they have now expanded it to allow for more signings, but the deadline to sign up for your autographed item and personalized taped message from Shatner is midnight Tuesday (Pacific).
Today there are a couple new interviews from the stars of the new Star Trek movie who are probably the biggest fans of The Original Series, Karl Urban (McCoy) and Simon Pegg (Scotty). Urban talked to SFX Magazine about how now is the right time to bring Trek back, while self-described geek Simon Pegg seems to have Star Wars on the mind these days.
The big Star Trek event for Comic Con 2008 was the brand new poster (or actually 4 posters) which revealed four cast images for the first time. The poster was well received, but it was also highly stylized, saturating the Trek crew with colors from the traditional TOS uniforms (gold, red and blue). So TrekMovie decided it would be interesting to ‘reverse engineer’ the actual images from the poster as they might appear in the movie.
On July 29th, 1958 President Dwight Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act into law and NASA was born. Thus began the space race of the 60s, which sparked more popular culture interest in space. Since the shooting of the first pilot for Star Trek in 1964, there have been numerous references to NASA in Trek, all the way through to the last series Enterprise.
Star Trek’s new Spock, Zachary Quinto, was at Comic Con last weekend, primarily to attend the Heroes panel. MTV ran into the actor and he discusses Heroes, his new Star Trek poster and of course the new Star Trek movie, including insights into the other actor’s portrayals and how his Spock deals with his human and Vulcan sides.
In what may be the last of the reports coming out of the Fox’s TCA Fringe event last week, IGN has a summary of JJ Abrams comments about Star Trek. Much of it has been reported here before, but they provide it in better Q&A format to get more context. There is also a little bit more from Star Trek’s new director on what is his biggest challenge with the new film.
There is yet even more from JJ Abrams from last week’s TCA event in Los Angeles. Deadbolt reports some of the same quotes, but also has a Abrams discussing the optimism (and darkness) of past Trek and how that is reflected in his new Star Trek movie.
In the past Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy have talked much about how they bonded making of the new Star Trek movie. Nimoy has clearly become a mentor for the new Spock, but in a new interview with Sci-Fi Wire, Quinto notes that it was also Orci and Kurtzman’s script that drove his performance.
For the first time ever, a Star Trek movie is going to get at truly global premiere. In addition to the new wallpapers added to the official Star Trek site, Paramount has put up a new list of worldwide release dates for the movie. According to the list, the new Star Trek movie will premiere in 46 countries the week of May 8th 2009.
In the past Karl Urban has shown his Trek cred by talking about his respect for the Original Series and his predecessor, DeForest Kelley. In a new interview with SFX Magazine, Star Trek’s new Dr. McCoy talks about favorite episodes ("Corbomite Maneuver" and "Amok Time"), the appeal of the film to fans like himself, as well as that crucial Kirk/Spock/McCoy dynamic.
Clifton Collins Jr., who plays General Ayel, the right hand to Eric Bana’s Nero in the new Star Trek says that new film is for the fans: "We’re serving the people who are completely enamored with Star Trek." The new Trek bad also talked to Creators.com about Trek ‘cheese’ and his (and Bana’s) role in Star Trek .
Although JJ Abrams was at the Television Critics Association event this week to promote his new Fox TV show Fringe, he sure took a lot of questions about Star Trek. In the latest, the director gives Hollywood Outbreak an update on the status of the post-production and also talks about the performances of his new Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto).
Yesterday at the Fox’s animation panel during the 2008 Television Critics Association confab, Family Guy creator (and well known Star Trek fan) Seth MacFarlane told reporters he would like to create a Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan parody similar to the Family Guy parody of Star Wars from 2007. TrekMovie thinks this is a great idea and thought we would lend a hand.
Today Patrick Stewart turned 68, and he is still going strong. TNG’s Picard recently finished his Tony-nominated Broadway run in Macbeth and is now preparing for Hamlet where he will play Claudius across from David Tennent (Doctor Who) as Hamlet. In a new London Times interview Stewart talks Trek, aging and more!
In May former TNG actor and professional geek Wil Wheaton blogged (here and on his site) about the state of Star Trek and the future with JJ Abrams. Some of Wheaton’s controversial views kicked off a lot of talk amongst fans. Now in a new interview with our friends at Geek Magazine, Wheaton talks about the controversy and the fan ‘backlash’.
The right to self determination is a strong theme in Star Trek. Regardless of the Prime Directive, Star Trek’s captain’s were known for getting involved and taking on causes.
UPDATED: TrekMovie.com Editor-in-Chief Anthony Pascale was the guest Wednesday night on SyFyRadio, the weekly Internet radio show/podcast for SyFyPortal. You can listen to the program or download it by going to BlogTalkRadio.com, there is also an embedded player below (click ‘more’)