On First Contact Day, TrekMovie Reflects On ‘Star Trek: First Contact’
Today we take a closer look at the best of the TNG-era films with some personal reflections from the TrekMovie staff.
Read MoreToday we take a closer look at the best of the TNG-era films with some personal reflections from the TrekMovie staff.
Read MoreTo finish out the 50th, TrekMovie’s Jared Whitley looks at the franchise’s five decades of history, dividing them according to the classical “Ages of Man” – Golden Age, Silver Age, etc – but with an appropriately Trek twist. Today he looks at the first 10 years.
The TrekMovie team rounds up the Star Trek gifts we want most, and the charities we know need some extra love during the holiday season.
TrekMovie concludes its week-long anniversary celebration of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country with a look at the film from a fan’s perspective. Much like in his previous remembrance of The Voyage Home, Steve Vivona not only takes a look at the film, but also bring us back to 1991, when fans across the world were able to cap off the franchise’s 25th anniversary with a rousing farewell to the original cast.
On November 26, 1986 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home debuted on movie screens across the United States. The film’s lighthearted tone and environmental message struck a chord with moviegoers, and became the first Star Trek film to have crossover appeal with mainstream audiences who normally wouldn’t be interested in the adventures of the Enterprise crew. The movie often referred to as “the one with the whales” continues to charm audiences today, and we wanted to mark its 30th anniversary with a remembrance not only of the film, but of the time it was made in. We hope you enjoy it.
There’s a lot on Star Trek to be thankful for; here’s one fan’s list.
Star Trek fans are eagerly awaiting any news about the upcoming series Star Trek: Discovery. With the recent announcement that the Original Series episode “Balance of Terror” will be a “touchstone” for the new series, we thought it prudent to take a look back at the history of Romulans in Star Trek. We noticed an odd pattern and have to ask: why are so many Romulans nameless? Could Discovery retcon some key commanders with names? And we found one bit of Trek lore that -no one- else on the Internet has spotted.
In part two of my editorial on mental illness and Star Trek, being published on World Mental Health Day 2016, I will focus on two other examples of Star Trek portraying mental health issues that depict a positive future where illnesses are understood and the people around our characters help. I also suggest that we work together to break down stigmas, and be there for those we love when they struggle with mental illness.
The medical advances depicted in Star Trek are nothing less than extraordinary, but solutions have not been found to maladies that millions in our world are struggling with: mental illness. This article examines the few instances where characters are depicted as struggling with mental illnesses, and sadly concludes that Star Trek’s writers completely failed to present us with a future where such illnesses have been eliminated, nor one where mental illness does not carry the stigma it carries today. This is a two-part article, with the second describing my own struggle with mental illness and how I use Star Trek to help.
Vocal minorities tend to lead perception. It’s not necessarily because they are right, but because they are loud, consistent in message and sometimes the only mouthpiece. Lately however, that vox populi has taken its gripes and issues to an entirely new level; one that ridicules, mocks and bullies creators online, as well as posting critical and negative comments to anything and everything covering something that supposedly brings these fans great joy. All of these behaviors can easily be attached to countless fandoms currently occupying the zeitgeist, yet sadly it seems to have taken a firm hold on Star Trek, which is disappointing considering what the franchise represents.
The new Star Trek Beyond character Jaylah is a dynamic addition to film and potentially the crew. Here I make my case for why she is among the strongest characters of the franchise and should stick around should another Kelvin film be made.
Since Star Trek: Discovery will be coming exclusively to CBS All Access in the United States, I decided to give the network’s new over-the-top streaming service a try. I’ve been using All Access for a good nine months now, and I’ve learned a thing or two about what the service gets right and where it leaves something to be desired.
During the last golden age of Star Trek on television from 1993-2005, fans became ever more connected due to the internet, and specifically fan sites dedicated to Trek and message boards. While this was wonderful in bringing us together, every episode and series was analyzed, criticized, and the writers sometimes vilified. Of the many who faced the ire of Trek fans during the respective runs of Voyager and Enterprise, none received as much vitriol as Brannon Braga despite him being responsible for some of the most celebrated Star Trek episodes in the entire franchise.
A TrekMovie writer takes a look back at the lead up to the film that began Trek’s foray onto the silver screen, ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture.’
Adam B. Vary of BuzzFeed just published an in depth article on Star Trek fandom (centered primarily around the reboot movies and Axanar as two different sides of Trek and fandom), titled “Who Owns Star Trek? How Star Trek Created, Lost, And Won Back Its Devoted Fandom”. With interviews from Trek actors, producers, directors, and fans, it’s a great read. Click through for some choice excerpts.
In an open letter to the creators of the upcoming Star Trek CBS series, science fiction author Steven Erikson makes a plea for the new show to embody the characteristics that made the Original Series so universal and posits, “Star Trek will survive on the quality of its drama – not on the special effects, not on the strange aliens, and not, alas, on the legacy of what has gone before.”
Trailer reaction videos are all the rage on the YouTube these days, and we here at Trek Movie wanted to get in on the gravy. So we have prepared a reaction video to today’s Star Trek Beyond trailer. But what is your reaction _to our reaction video_?!? Let us know in the comments below!
The president of Paramount’s Motion Picture Group recently told WIRED that he wants to “take advantage” of unexplored parts of the Star Trek universe going forward with future films, throwing out such “ridiculous” ideas as “Star Trek: Zero Dark Thirty” and meeting the SEAL Team Six of the Star Trek universe. After the action-adventure shoot-em-up blow-em-up blockbuster that was Into Darkness, Paramount wanting a “less Star Trek-y” script, and the head of the reboot proclaiming that Star Trek is “too philosophical”, is this another indication that Paramount really has no idea how to do Star Trek?
Lydia Wilson has just been announced as the latest addition to the growing call sheet for Star Trek Beyond, currently filming in Vancouver. As usual, no one has any clue as to what her role might be (although there is plenty of speculation abound). I am excited about the addition of another female presence on the screen, but I remain cautiously optimistic after our “strong female role model” Carol Marcus turned into a one-trick pony designed to catch Kirk’s (and the audience’s) romantic interest.
As we at Trek Movie are preparing to deploy to Las Vegas for the largest annual Star Trek convention in the world, I am forced to pause and ask… do we really need conventions just for ourselves any more? Just because we always did it, just because we started fandom and cosplay, do we need to keep doing it?
Regardless of how much you and I want to see Star Trek return to the TV, we aren’t the ones who control the latinum.
A few weeks ago the Balboa theater in San Francisco hosted a screening of New Voyages’s episode Mind Sifter. With a number of their cast and crew in attendance for both a pre-screening meet and greet and a Q&A session with director Mark Edward Lewis, SFX Supervisor Pony Horton, and actors Jeff Bond (Dr. Leonard McCoy) and Becky Wood (Dr. Hamlin). As the audience filtered into the theater in the half hour or so leading up to the screening it became evident that people weren’t just locals to the Bay Area. Many people had come in from from 100 miles and more to see the episode on a big screen.