Recently the Tech Museum announced it was extended its engagement of Star Trek: The Exhibition, and today they have announced a contest where a lucky couple will get a Star Trek wedding packing to get married on the bridge of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701, no A, B, C, or D). Details below.
As he does every once in a while, over the weekend Star Trek co-writer Roberto Orci jumped into a talkback comments thread here at TrekMovie and did some impromptu fan Q&A. Orci talked time travel, cameos, nitpicks, the sequel, Keenser and more. See below for an easy to read transcript in Q&A format, to see what he had to say.
Star Trek fans are known to be generous and to always think of their common man (or alien). This week the people of Haiti are suffering after devastating earthquakes. The Live Journal fan group ontd_startrek has put up a UNICEF donation page for you to help out. TrekMovie hopes you can make a contribution.
Christmas is a time of giving (and receiving) and this year lots of good Trekkie girls and boys did just that. According to our latest polls 60% of our readers received the gift of Trek this seasons, and 40% gave the gift of Trek. Over the last day some of the TrekMovie readers have been sending in pics of their Star Trek gifts. [UPDATE: Added more reader submitted photos and video]
2009 has been a big year for Star Trek, including the return of Star Trek costumes from Rubies. Over the weekened a number of TrekMovie readers have shown their Star Trek pride and sent in pictures of their Trek costumes. Check them all out below.
Happy (early) Halloween from Science Friday! This week, take a look at the successful Ares 1-X launch, a real life Star Trek translator, new planet exploring robots, and get some last minute geeky Halloween costume ideas, plus see some suggestions sent in by TrekMovie readers. All this and so much more. Plus, celebrate the Internet’s 40th birthday!
Last weekend two lucky Star Trek fans got to have their wedding in the Final Frontier. Brad Siegel and Kate Erwin, winners of a contest held by the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, got married on Sunday on a replica of the USS Enterprise D bridge at Star Trek The Exhibition. The couple has sent TrekMovie a special video telling their story from a proposal at a convention to the wedding itself.
Over the weekend there were two Star Trek events held in the middle of America, TrekFest in Riverside, Iowa and TrekExpo in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Celebrities attending these events include Leonard Nimoy, Marina Sirtis, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Denise Crosby, and Walter Koenig. Below we have links and excerpts from news reports, plus images and videos from the events. [UPDATED: Plus new video from VulCon from Alberta, Canada]
Next Generation’s Tasha Yar, and executive producer/host of the two Trekkies documentaries Denise Crosby is is Tulsa, OK this weekend appearing at TrekExpo. The actress has a new interview in the Oklahoma press talking about fans, leaving TNG, the new movie, Trekkies 3 and more.
Summer 2009 is shaping up to be a great convention season for Star Trek fans. In addition to the official Star Trek conventions, there are a number of other events (both big and small) which are all about or include Star Trek. As we do each season, TrekMovie provides an easy guide and schedule to all the activities around the world.
New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. a candidate for mayor for the largest city in America and, as revealed in an article to day in the New York Times, he is also a Trekkie. The article also reveals that he has the support of none other than the original Mr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy. Thompson joins what seems to be a growing list of Trekkie politicians.
A couple of days ago we pointed to a funny parody news clip at The Onion which poked some good-natured fun at Trek and Trek fans, and how we were up in arms over how the film was ‘fun’ and ‘watchable.’ Trek fans are self-aware and most seemed to get the joke, but in the last day I have noticed a more disturbing Trend from some in the mainstream media trying to to perpetuate the most negative stereotypes of Trek fans, and what is worse they are trying to get me to help them. More below.
As the new Star Trek film looms ever closer, more and more events celebrating Star Trek, from museum talks to Fed Con, are being announced. Here is a list of some of the best events for fans as they wait to see ST09 and in the days after the film, from now until May. The good news is that many of the events are free!
Today Paramount has released two cool digital tools for Star Trek fans. Firstly there is a brand new StarTrekFanKit site with all sorts of ways for you to customize your online life with Star Trek movie stuff. Also there is a brand new free "Star Trek Phaser" iPhone application for you to play with. Details below.
One of our favorite Trek websites, TrekCore.com, is holding its annual fundraising event this month. As part of the fundraiser, the essential online multimedia resource for Star Trek is offering a number of genuine tribbles from Deep Space Nine as well as some photographs. See below for more info.
There are many events, big and small, from now until May to help fans celebrate in preparation of the premiere of the Star Trek feature film. Organizations as diverse as the United States Library of Congress to local libraries are holding a variety of Star Trek themed events as "the day of reckoning" approaches. Conventional Wisdom provides this guide to Star Trek events from March until May.
Wondercon 2009 began yesterday in San Franciso and one of the first events was the “The Once & Future Trek!” panel, which is a sort of regular feature of Comic Con with various ‘Treksperts’. This time the panel turned out to just be just Daren Dochterman and myself, but that ended up to work out as it became an interesting Star Trek film focused Q&A with info-starved Trekkies.
On Friday, after a long wait, the geeky comedy Fanboys finally hits theaters. The road trip film about Star Wars fans traveling across country to Skywalker Ranch also has some Star Trek elements, not the least of which is a cameo from William Shatner. So TrekMovie decided to check in with director Kyle Newman to find out why Trekkies should see Fanboys. We also have an exclusive image of the Trekkies in Fanboys.
Apparently the economy is so bad, that a Trekkie has turned to crime. According to multiple reports from the Colorado press, a man wielding a Klingon Bat’leth sword robbed two different 7-11 stores in Colorado Springs, CO this morning. So far no one was injured, but the crook has not yet been caught. More details and a video TV report below. [UPDATE: Image of Bat’leth Bandit released]
At the Memorial for Majel Barrett Roddenberry earlier this month it was first announced that portions of the ashes of both Gene and Majel Roddenberry would be sent into deep space. Today Celestis, the memorial spaceflight company, has provided TrekMovie with more details on their final voyage, along with information on how fans can send a message along with them. We also have the video shown at the memorial.
As reported by TrekMovie (and elsewhere) Barack Obama is the first Trekkie President, having made several references to Star Trek in the past. And it just so happens that Star Trek worked its way into an event on his inauguration day today, unfortunately it was another Star Wars/Star Trek conflation.
Over the last week TrekMovie.com has been looking back at 2008 and and picking the highs (and some of the lows of the year). Today in the last installment of our 2008 retrospective, we pick the ‘Trekkies of the Year.’
The Roddenberry family has announced the details for the memorial service for Majel Barrett Roddenberry, which will be at Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills on January 4th. The public are invited to attend, but are asked to add their name to an online list at Roddenberry.com so they can make appropriate plans. More details and info below.
It has been a month since Paramount released a full image of their new USS Enterprise, sparking much discussion. But for the last two years there have been numerous sightings of a ‘new Enterprise’ which usually turned out to be mistaken reports based on designs from Gabriel Koerner, a Trek fan featured in Trekkies and professional CGI artist. Today Koerner has decided to weigh in on the new ‘real’ Enterprise.
If you want to bring some honor to your holiday season and you live near the Twin Cities, then this coming week you can check out "A Christmas Carol", in the original Klingon. And the same troupe will be filming a special feature in Klingon for an upcoming Star Trek DVD. Also for fans in New York, the Start Trekkin improv group are performing two shows this upcoming week.
Star Trek continues its return to popular culture consciousness this year with everything from magazine covers to movie trailers in anticipation of the new feature film. Yet another example is seen at the 72nd Annual Sun Bowl Parade in El Paso, Texas this Thanksgiving Day.
The new USS Enterprise released yesterday has spawned dozens if not hundreds of articles across the globe in the mainstream press and the geekosphere. Reaction here at TrekMovie has been running at one comment every 49 seconds for 24 hours straight. In that deluge are a few notables, including former Star Trek designer Rick Sternbach and the designer of the new ship, Ryan Church.
Trekmovie.com is very sad to report that Joyce Mason, former runner of the official William Shatner fan club and host of the 1990s radio talk show "Talk Trek and Beyond," passed away September 6th of natural causes. See below for a eulogy by John Tenuto.
Gene Roddenberry’s son Rod Roddneberry has been working on a documentary about his father and Trek fandom for a few years. Over the summer TrekMovie reported that Roddenberry had hired a new editor (Emmy winner Allan Holzman) who was finally putting it all together and had created a new trailer, which is now online.
TrekMovie has been informed that Joan ("Joannie") Winston, one of the founders of the first Star Trek conventions and author of "The Making of the Star Trek Conventions," passed away September 11th at age 77. According to her family, Joan died in her sleep at an assisted living center in New York.