It was on September 8th 1966 that Star Trek debuted on NBC in the U.S.A. The episode chosen to be broadcast first was actually the fifth produced – “The Man Trap“. Also, as commenters have pointed out, happy 40th anniversary to Star Trek: The Animated Series, serendipitously, it too debuted on September 8th in 1973 So fire up Netflix, Amazon Instant, Hulu Plus, Star Trek.com, or your DVD or Blu-ray copy of TOS and celebrate!
As some may be aware, TrekMovie staffers were mostly out of touch for a couple of weeks recently. Here is a round up of Trek news bits. We mourn the passing of Dahar Master Kang (AKA Michael Ansara), Breaking Bad references Trek in a drug haze, and a new book about the making of TOS debuted. Read on for more.
It took two separate panels to accommodate the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 20th Anniversary Reunion at Creation Entertainment’s Las Vegas convention August 11. Creation assembled a nearly complete cast of 16 DS9 main cast members for the commemorative event. And in between panels, when writer-producer Ira Steven Behr walked on stage with the cast, the scene brought hundreds of camera flashes in Rio Resort and Casino’s main theater. You don’t have to be a die-hard DS9 fan to appreciate these increasingly rare convention reunion moments. Fans, actors — even sideline observers can’t help but get a little choked up. Who knows when, where or if an ensemble like this will be on the same stage together again?
Amid chants of “USA! USA!” and with a surprise entrance by Terry Farrell (Jadzia Dax on Star Trek: Deep Space 9), Star Trek Las Vegas fans Saturday night recaptured the Guinness World Record for most Star Trek costumes in one location for the USA. They did it with plenty of time and a few Trekkies left to spare.
Thousands of Star Trek fans will be convening in Las Vegas in August again, to listen to celebrity panels, bid on memorabilia, attend planetary science discussions, stand in lines for autographs and photo ops, and debate the merits of the latest Star Trek motion picture. And again this year, they will attempt to break a Guinness World Record for most people dressed in Star Trek costumes at one location. Hit the jump to learn more about the record attempt and its history.
With today’s release of Star Trek into Darkness in the US American reviews been arriving on an almost hourly basis, ticking up the Rotten Tomatoes ranking to 87% – the highest for any 2013 wide release. See below for more details and some excerpts of some of the praise (and pans) from the top US critics. We also have a Box Office prediction update. [UPDATED: RT rating went up 1% during Thursday]
Paramount has provided us with a couple of "B-Roll" videos showing a lot of the behind the scenes activity on Star Trek Into Darkness. The videos are just raw footage (and all bits don’t have audio), but it is a great way to get a peek inside how the film is made. Watch them below (spoilers).
On Thursday Star Trek Into Darkness has its world premiere in London – with a press event over the weekend. TrekMovie will be there. We also want to give fans a chance to ask JJ Abrams and his cast a question. Details below.
Even at age 82 you cannot stop William Shatner. His show "Weird or What" (previously seen on Discovery Channel and History Canada) debuts on the Syfy channel Tuesday night at 9PM. Watch Star Trek’s original Kirk in a couple of “Weird” promo clips below.
According to Star Trek history, humanity will break the light-speed barrier on April 5th, 2063 – leading to the first contact with an alien race – and this day will be a holiday forevermore in the Federation. And so today TrekMovie celebrates the 50th ‘preversary’ of First Contact Day. But could breaking the warp barrier come sooner? More on the holiday and real warp science below. [UPDATED: More Trek celeb tweets and FC web links added]
This week a Star Trek controversy has been brewing – and it has nothing to do with Alice Eve’s undies. This scandal Star Trek scandal involves the IRS – yes the people that collect your taxes – spending $60,000 on a Star Trek parody video. Congress demanded to see the video and today the IRS released it. Watch the video below
Today is an important day – it is William Shatner’s birthday. Star Trek’s original Kirk is now 82. TrekMovie wants to wish our Captain a very happy birthday. Others are also acknowledging this important day including Hulu and some Star Trek luminaries. More below
Newark Mayor Cory Booker is a well-known political figure and like President Obama, he is also a Star Trek fan. Earlier this week the mayor called in to a New Jersey public radio station to show support during a pledge drive and during his call he was pitted against noted nerd John Hodgman in a Star Trek trivia contest. Listen to that below plus see how the Daily Show and Colbert Report responded to Obama’s "Jedi Mind Meld" statement.
Star Trek may just be a TV show (and movies, books, etc) but it can also affect people’s lives. An example of that came last week on a Dutch TV show interviewing former TNG star Whoopi Goldberg where the actress met an autistic fan who says she and Star Trek helped him lead a productive and social life. Watch the emotional moment below.
WizKids/NECA have just announced a new collectible Star Trek board game. The new "Attack Wing" game is the latest entry in the Star Trek HeroClix line-up. See below for more details and images from Star Trek: Attack Wing, including some exclusive first looks.
Trek fans are always imagining ‘what if?’ scenarios for the franchise but one of them has taken it to a new level by creating images of a notional reboot of the original Star Trek…by the animators at Pixar. The artists images of Star Trek characters has gone viral. Check them out below
Last week Star Trek Into Darkness (and future Star Wars) director JJ Abrams gave a keynote speech at the DICE (Design Innovate Communicate Entertain) Summit along with Valve President Gabe Newell. Abrams talk was on "Storytelling Across Platforms" and during his talk he showed a clip of Star Trek and pointed out the little R2-D2 Easter Egg. Watch the whole talk below, plus an Abrams inspired Star Trek/Star Wars mashup just for fun.
Today at the annual Toy Fair in New York Hasbro outlined their product plans for the upcoming year at an investor event, including their line of KRE-O figures and sets for Star Trek Into Darkness. See below for details and images. We also have a close look at Revell’s new movie USS Enterprise and a translucent ‘cloaked’ Klingon Bird of Prey from Diamond Select.
The recently relaunched Geek Magazine features a cover story in its new issue about Star Trek, including a roundtable discussion with a number of notable Treksperts, including Brannon Braga and David Goodman. The two-hour talk includes a lot of interesting stuff including Braga talking about his original plan for Star Trek Enterprise. Find out more about that and the new issue of Geek below, plus watch the entire roundtable discussion.
JJ Abrams Bad Robot production company has a state of the art facility in Santa Monica where they are currently doing post production on Star Trek Into Darkness. In December the editing technology company Avid conducted a video ‘webinar’ from Bad Robot featuring many of the people working on the film. See below for the very interesting behind the scenes video, and check out a few glimpses of the movie that could be seen in the background
TrekMovie has some sad news to report about two notable Star Trek fans. Over the weekend Daniel Craft, the fan who was recently granted a last wish to see Star Trek Into Darkness, passed away. In addition Alberto Lisiero, founder the the largest Italian fan club and translator for Star Trek films in Italy, also passed away this past week. TrekMovie has been in touch with both Daniel and Alberto’s wives. We have statements and photos from both below
On Friday TrekMovie reported a story about how Paramount, Bad Robot and director JJ Abrams were going to grant a dying fan’s wish to see an early preview of Star Trek Into Darkness. That private screening has now taken place and TrekMovie has been sent a statement from the family about the event and giving thanks to the internet fan community for helping to make it happen. See below for more details
Today we share a sad story about a fellow Star Trek fan that has a touching silver lining. On Christmas Day a friend of a lifelong Trek fan’s family made a post on Reddit about how it was this fan’s dying wish to see Star Trek Into Darkness. And the message eventually worked its way to the powers that be with Trek and it looks like the fan is going to get his wish. More details below.
The TrekMovie team wants to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas. And we are not alone. Many of Star Trek’s stars are sharing holiday wishes too, see their tweets an pictures below, and and a video message from William Shatner. We also have some fun Trekmas videos.
Two weeks ago TrekMovie reported that in Russia the local distributor chose an alternative title for Star Trek Into Darkness. The title (translated as "Star Trek: Vengeance") was one of those tested for the film but lost out to "Into Darkness" everywhere but Russia. Since the announcement some Trek fans in Russia have tried to get the decision changed and yesterday they even got a meeting with the Russian distributor. Get all the details below in a report from TrekMovie’s Moscow correspondent.
It’s the big-ticket Star Trek item of the season (well, for book-lovers, anyway). Join us for a look at “Federation: The First 150 Years.” Find out how this history from the future weighs in – and watch the unboxing video to see how all the components work – below.
Following the success of their 2012 Hollywood to Vegas tour, Geek Nation Tours has announced the August 2013 edition of their Trekkie tour that follows Trek sites around Hollywood and LA area and beyond into Nevada — with some special guests along the way – and ending at the annual Creation Star Trek convention in Las Vegas. Geek Nation has once again teamed up with Larry “Dr. Star Trek” Nemecek, who will be leading the tour group. Get more details below and an exclusive photo from the 2012 tour.
The US Navy’s aircraft carrier bearing the same name as Star Trek’s iconic starship has been officially inactivated. After over fifty years in service the nuclear carrier USS Enterprise was ‘inactivated’ at an event in Norfolk, VA. More details and video from the event. The US Navy has also announced that the next aircraft carrier will be named Enterprise.
Thanksgiving is a time for family and friends to get together, share a meal, and give thanks. TrekMovie hopes all those celebrating this day to have a great Thanksgiving. See below for more including Thanksgiving tweets from Trek celebrities, details on a BBC America Star Trek: TNG Marathon.
Six years ago TrekMovie broke the news that CBS was considering a new animated Star Trek series developed by some insider vets. This show "Star Trek: Final Frontier" never made it past the development stage, but in the past the creators have shared images and details on the web. And now they are revealing the scripts they wrote as well. Details below along with an exclusive image.