Trek Franchise

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CBS/Paramount, Trek Franchise | November 2, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 42 comments so far

Business Brief: Viacom Chief Talks Abrams, Trek, Transformers and Franchises

[WARNING: boring business article ahead] To all of us Star Trek is a hobby (or to some a way of life), but to CBS and Paramount/Viacom Trek is a ‘brand’ and a ‘franchise.’ The good news is that Trek is again getting the notice of the higher ups. In a conference call with Wall Street where he announced a big jump in profits, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman talked up Paramount’s 2008 line-up with a shoutouts to J.J. Abrams and Star Trek…

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Orci/Kurtzman, Trek Franchise | October 23, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 65 comments so far

Star Trek Stars Honored At Spike Scream Awards – Airs Tonight

Spike TV, which is still the cable home of Star Trek Voyager and Star Trek Deep Space Nine, honored Star Trek at their Annual Scream awards held over the weekend in Los Angeles. William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig and George Takei were all on hand to receive a special award in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Ricardo Montalban was not in attendance, but Shatner solicited a “Khaaaaan” scream from the audience in his honor.

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Fandom, Nimoy, Star Trek (2009 film) | October 13, 2007 | By: Charles Trotter 30 comments so far

Nimoy Talks Trek, Spock and New Photography Book

After 40 years, Leonard Nimoy is still amazed and grateful for the popularity ‘Star Trek’ and his character, Mr. Spock. In an interview with The Jewish Chronicle, the actor says he is "flattered, amused and delighted" that ‘Star Trek’ has endured They were good stories, interesting stories, stories that are universal and stand up over time. Star Trek has never been a millstone. It has always given me opportunities to make choices about what to do with my work and my life.

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Trek Franchise | October 2, 2007 | By: Charles Trotter 37 comments so far

Fall Brings Changes in Trek on Cable

With the new fall season comes some changes for Star Trek series running in syndication on cable TV. The biggest change is that Star Trek The Next Generation is no longer being shown on Spike TV. Spike (when it was TNN) began running TNG in October of 2001, but the channel has changed a lot since that time and it appears they may be moving away from Trek. Spike is still showing Voyager in the early evenings and DS9 mostly in graveyard. TNG can still be seen on G4. Enterprise’s schedule on HDNet has also changed. Updated schedule for all 5 series on cable below.

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Nimoy, Trek Franchise | September 21, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 33 comments so far

TrekMovie.com wishes you a “g’mar chatimah tovah” for Yom Kippur

Tonight (starting at sundown) is the beginning of Yom Kippur – the Jewish day of atonement. Although Star Trek was never overtly religious, there are many links between Judaism and Trek (including Shatner and Nimoy themselves). Below is a video of Leonard Nimoy talking about Trek and Jewish tradition (click to see video at YouTube).   For more check out TrekJews.com. 

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Shatner, Trek Franchise | September 16, 2007 | By: Charles Trotter 23 comments so far

Emmys Elude Shatner + Sopranos Rub Out Lindelof and Moore

William Shatner was all over tonight’s Primetime Emmy Awards. He was nominated for his third Emmy for Boston Legal and his Comedy Central Roast was up for an award as well. The spotlight was on Shatner early in the show as host Ryan Seacrest commented on the former Captain Kirk’s "snazzy attire" and later in the show, the Shat co-presented an award with Debra Messing (pictured). The two joked that their planned musical number was canceled because Messing "refused to have his love child." Beyond that, however, this wasn’t Shatner’s night.

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Trek Franchise | August 8, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 25 comments so far

Business Week: Trek Franchise Prospering

In a new lengthy feature Business Week takes a look at the current crop of film franchises in Hollywood, including Star Trek. In their introduction they note that some franchises come to a natural end (like Lord of the Rings), others (like The Matrix) peter out, "but some franchises—a Bond or a Star Trek—will keep on going until the studios stop making money on them." The article includes a snapshot of 16 franchises, including Trek. On Trek they surmise…

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Trek Franchise, TrekMovie.com | August 8, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 37 comments so far

Star Trek Vegas Con Starts Tomorrow – Shatner, Nimoy (and TrekMovie.com) will be there

Creation’s Sixth Annual Official Star Trek Convention kicks off on Thursday at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel (home of the Star Trek Experience). Creation are expecting over 15,000 Trekkies from all across the world to attend. 75 Star Trek Celebrities including Trek ‘captains’ William Shatner, Kate Mulgrew  and Avery Brooks will be appearing. In addition to Shatner, all other surviving  TOS cast members will be there (Takei, Koenig, Nichols and Nimoy). This year marks the 20th anniversary of Star Trek The Next Generation and and much of the cast will be in Vegas to celebrate: Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Will Wheaton, Gates McFadden, LeVar Burton and even Dwight Schultz (Barclay). This year there will also be some big behind the camera names appearing, including Nicholas Meyer, Brannon Braga, Bob Justman and D.C Fontana.

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Interview, Star Trek (2009 film), Trek Franchise | July 28, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 57 comments so far

Trek Producers Behr, Moore and Fuller On Latest Trek News

I ran into three different Trek writer and producing vets today at Comic Con and had quick moments to get reactions on the news Zachary Quinto is the new Spock and Leonard Nimoy will be joining him in the new Star Trek movie. Here is what they had to say. Ron Moore (TNG, DS9, ST: GEN) [Quinto] is a great choice…sure why not? I am curious who they pick for Kirk. I think they should go with an unknown…somebody we have never hears of.

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Merchandise, Star Trek (2009 film), TOS Remastered, Trek Franchise, TrekMovie.com | July 25, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 36 comments so far

Star Trek and TrekMovie.com @ Comic Con 2007

Everyone knows that this week’s comic con in San Diego is going to be a big moment for Star Trek. The two biggest news events will be on Thursday the 26th.[all time PST] Thu 12:30 – 1:30 TOS-R on HD-DVD: All about new Remastered Trek on HD DVD. Thu 1:30 – 3:30 Paramount Presentation: Covers multiple Paramount films including Star Trek and 1-18-08. JJ Abrams to attend with other producers…Trek expected to be last TrekMovie.com will report from both as soon as possible…so keep checking back. Later on Thursday I will also be a panelist on a Geek Monthly.com Star Trek Panel.  Plus there are other Trek related panels & events (details on all Trek events below)

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Feature Films (TMP-NEM), TAS, TOS, Trek Franchise | July 22, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 84 comments so far

D.C. Fontana On TAS Canon (and Sybok)

Dorothy Fontana (aka D.C. Fontana) was with Star Trek since the beginning as both a writer and Story Editor for Star Trek: The Original Series. She had the same job for The Animated Series and went on to write episodes for both TNG and DS9 (and even for the recent Trek game and New Voyages fan series). Fontana is interviewed in the new ‘Focus on Trek’ from IDW Comics. The interview covers a number of subjects, but her comments on the often debated issues of canon were noteworthy. Regarding TAS and canon Fontana says that Gene Roddenberry never took TAS seriously. She also does not seem happy with the makers of Star Trek V who gave Spock a half brother (details below)

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Orci/Kurtzman, Trek Franchise | July 9, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 33 comments so far

Trek Writers Talk Sequels

Star Trek writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have already declined to write a sequel to their monster hit Transformers (in theaters now), but in a new interview they seem a bit more open to it for Star Trek. When asked if the film is a ‘one off’ they had this to say… Orci: I think maybe on this one more than even on Transformers, we were imagining possibly a bigger universe. Kurtzman: I think that’s part of the responsibility of taking on this franchise. It’s going to continue. That’s part of the whole theme of Star Trek. There is always going to be a future. The pair also talked about the vetting process for the script and what it was like to meet Shatner and Nimoy, saying "it was totally insane." Read the whole interview at GeekMonthly.com. 

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Trek Franchise | July 6, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 23 comments so far

Globe Trekking

This week had an American theme with "The Omega Glory" and our 4th of July Tribute, but we cannot forget that Star Trek knows no borders. Almost a third of the readers of this site live outside the USA (about half of those are from non English speaking countries). In fact lately we have been getting more tips and help from friends in the UK, Iceland, Japan, Germany and elsewhere. I see links coming in and news sites from all over the world reporting on TrekMovie.com stories: from Croatia to Brazil to Isreal. So for our Friday Night at the movies I have put together some random Trek clips from around the world in a small way to say ‘Hola’ ‘Guten Tag’ ‘Bonjour’ ‘Konichiwa’ (etc) to all those non-American Trekkies out there.

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Orci/Kurtzman, Star Trek (2009 film), Trek Franchise | June 19, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 87 comments so far

Orci: New ‘Star Trek’ Film To Bring In New Generation – May Lead to New Trek on TV

Yet even more on Star Trek from Mr. Orci’s press tour for Transformers. In the second part of the IESB interview with Orci there is one Trek question related to the future of the franchise and if it will ‘re-establish’ the universe. Orci replied: Absolutely, it’s gotta bring in a whole new generation, it’s gotta bring in people who don’t know Trek so it absolutely trying to re-establish what this universe should be…

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Orci/Kurtzman, Trek Franchise | June 19, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 27 comments so far

Star Trek Reference/Cameo in Tranformers

[MINOR SPOLIERS]Transformers is sure to be one of the big blockbusters of this summer. The mainstream action movie is full of pop culture references including one nod to Star Trek.  The reference comes from the character of Bumblebee (pictured right). Bumblebee is probably the most realized Transformer in the film and certainly gets the most screen time. He befriends the movie’s hero Sam Witwicky (played by Shia LaBeouf). One of the running gags is that the radio in Sam’s Camaro (aka Bumblebee) tunes into all sorts of things all on its own.

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Fan Fiction, Trek Franchise | June 12, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 36 comments so far

New Official Fan Fiction Contest Pits Kirk and Picard

Star Trek fans have been creating their own stories since as far back as the 60s. Some of these fan writers have even got their work published. The first of these compilations was "The New Voyages" in 1976. For the last decade Pocket Books has issued a series of fan fiction compilations starting with "Strange New Worlds" in 1998, but that all comes to an end next month with the final planned book "Strange New Worlds 10."  However, CBS have just announced a new deal with FanLib.com for web-based fan fiction contest called ‘Kirk v Picard.’ The contest will have fans collaborate to write a script for an ‘episode’ of the ultimate captain showdown with the help of a virtual showrunner in the form of VOY/DS9 science adviser and ENT writer and story editor Andre Bormanis. The contest site goes live Wednesday June 13th [UPDATE: Site is now Live] and TrekMovie.com talked to Bormanis about the project.

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TOS, Trek Franchise | June 11, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 20 comments so far

Star Trek Wins At Spaceys

Star Trek may be off the air and still a year away from being back in theaters, but it still manages to show up at award shows on Sunday. At Canada’s Spacey Awards Star Trek The Original Series won an award for Favorite Classic TV show, beating out Batman, Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica (Original) and The Twilight Zone. George Takei accepted the award on behalf of the show in a taped segment where the award was ‘beamed’ to his home. Veteran Star Trek make-up designer Michael Westmore also picked up a Special Achievement Spacey for his lifetime of work. Star Trek XI director JJ Abrams’ movie Mission Impossible III had five nominations and his show Lost had three, but neither picked up any awards.

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Interview, Star Trek (2009 film), Trek Franchise | June 8, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 92 comments so far

Ron Moore Supports Abrams – Thinks Trek Should ‘Start Over’

There was a Battlestar Galactica special screening in Hollywood on Wednesday and TrekMovie.com was there. BSG co-creator and executive producer Ron Moore had a quick moment to chat about the next season of BSG and Star Trek. On the subject of the new Trek film Moore tells TrekMovie.com that he is a fan of JJ Abrams. "He is tremendously talented and I think he is going to do a really good job," said the veteran Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine writer/producer. I also had a chance to ask the man who killed James T. Kirk (Moore co-wrote Generations) about the the the plans to bring Kirk back in the new film.

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Editorial, Science/Technology, Trek Franchise | June 3, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 62 comments so far

Time To Form Starfleet?

In the world of Star Trek we know that eventually the Earth is united both with a single government and a single space agency. This agency called ‘The United Earth Space Probe Agency‘ and ‘Starfleet‘ even predates the formation of the United Federation of Planets. To date in the real world there have been many forays into international cooperation between agencies, but they are still fully independent. Now comes news that some of that may change. This week thirteen space agencies (including those of the USA, Russia, Europe, China and Japan) have agreed to co-ordinate future exploration – including the Moon and Mars. They have agreed to a (sadly non binding) document called "The Global Exploration Strategy: The Framework for Co-ordination." It is said to help with the exchange for information and most importantly "identify gaps, duplication and potential areas for collaboration."

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Star Trek (2009 film), Trek Franchise | May 30, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 74 comments so far

Behr on Voyager, Trek XI & Future of 4400

Deep Space Nine executive producer and showrunner Ira Steven Behr has been spending the last few years running the time travel related show The 4400 on USA. TrekMovie.com attended a press round table discussing the premiere of season 4 and the subject of Star Trek came up. Behr was asked if he had a view about J.J. Abrams taking over Trek and the return to Kirk and Spock. At first said that he didn’t have any strong feelings, but then went on to talk about the franchise, saying…

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Interview, Trek Franchise | May 12, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 42 comments so far

Interview: Bryan Singer On Trek

At the Saturn Awards this week Bryan Singer picked up awards for Best Director and Best Fantasy Film for Superman Returns. After the show I had a chance to talk Trek with him about his love for Star Trek. Singer said that he is looking forward to Trek XI and thinks JJ Abrams is ‘brilliant’. He said that even though he had ‘bandied about’ some ideas for Trek himself, he never had the time to commit to it. Famous for spending over $200 million on Superman Returns, Singer did note concerns over Paramount giving Abrams enough money ‘to do it right’ and felt that he would ‘go north of $100 Million’ if it were his. The director also revealed how he ended up getting a cameo in Star Trek Nemesis and what it was like to meet some of Trek’s biggest stars, including a surprise guest at Patrick Stewart’s house.

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Feature Films (TMP-NEM), TNG, Trek Franchise | May 4, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 40 comments so far

Wrath of Khan and TNG Make EW’s Best Sci Fi List

The editors of Entertainment Weekly magazine have picked what they consider to be the best 25 sci-fi TV shows and movies of the last 25 years. Two Star Trek items make the top 10: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (#5) and Star Trek: The Next Generation (#8). Topping the list was the 1999 film The Matrix and former TNG/DS9 writer/producer Ron Moore’s Battlestar Galactica got 2nd place. Star Trek XI producers JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof also made the list via their show Lost coming in at eleventh place. Excerpts and the complete list below.