Trek on TV

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TOS Remastered | September 6, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 82 comments so far

Buy TOS-R Season 1 & Toshiba HD Player – Get A Free Phaser Remote [UPDATED: New Images From Toshiba]

Yesterday at the CEDIA video industry conference in Denver, CO. Toshiba (along with CBS) announced a special promotion for the upcoming release of Season 1 of Star Trek The Original Series digitally remastered for HD-DVD. If you buy the box set and a Toshiba HD-DVD player you will get a free ‘phaser’ remote control for your HD-DVD player (pictured right…larger version below). It seems that Toshiba are doing everything they can to pull out a win in this format war. Just a few weeks ago they ‘talked’ Paramount into going HD-DVD only and now they are touting Star Trek as one of the big exclusives for the HD-DVD format. They are so into Trek that Toshiba employees dressed up in Trek uniforms at the show (more details on the promotion and images below). UPDATE: Toshiba has sent TrekMovie.com exclusive shots of the phaser (see below) 

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Comics, Review, TOS | September 4, 2007 | By: Mark Martinez 13 comments so far

Review: Star Trek: Klingons — Blood Will Tell #5

IDW’s mini-series, Star Trek: Klingons — Blood Will Tell, concludes with issue #5. Having made his decision to support Chancellor Gorkon’s proposal to seek Federation help, Kahnrah finds himself hunted in the mean streets of the First City. Armed with his mek’leth, he eludes four assassins and encounters his granddaughter. For a moment he believes K’ahlynn will help, but discovers that she is opposed to begging for help from humans. In the end, blood does tell, and Kahnrah must kill K’ahlynn. In the council chamber, Kahnrah casts his vote for change and for survival.

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CBS/Paramount, Music, Nimoy | September 4, 2007 | By: Mark A. Altman 48 comments so far

Nimoy Treks To The Hollywood Bowl

The stories of Leonard Nimoy’s feuds with Paramount are legendary, but on Sunday night America’s favorite Vulcan put Mr. Spock, beer bottles and Hollywood accounting behind and turned out to host "The Big Picture: The Films of Paramount Pictures" – a music tribute at the legendary Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA. Despite the sweltering weather, Nimoy was classy as always and surprisingly avuncular as he introduced a litany of classic scores (and accompanying film clips) to some of Paramount’s greatest films including A Place In The Sun, Forest Gump, Chinatown, The Godfather Trilogy, Titanic, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and many more.

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TOS Remastered | September 4, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 61 comments so far

Changes Being Made For TOS-R Season 2 Affiliates and Airtimes

The weekend of September 15th marks the beginning of the second ‘season’ of the syndication of Star Trek Remastered. Apparently with the new season also comes new affiliates and air times for many cities. A quick look at the top 10 media markets shows that the TOS-R is changing affiliates in three of them (see chart below) and in other cities (such as Sacramento) it is changing times. In the cases of the two biggest markets (New York and Los Angeles) along with changing stations the show is finally moving out of the graveyard shift to a more reasonable 11pm. So do not assume that TOS-R will be where or when you have always watched it…it is important for you to check your local listings for the weekend of the 15th. More info below

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Conventions/Events/Attractions, Shatner | September 3, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 200 comments so far

Vegas Con Video: Shatner On Not Being In Movie & More

The fine folks at ShatnerVision have put up five videos from William Shatner’s appearance at the recent Creation Las Vegas Star Trek Convention (reported here earlier). In the first Shatner jokes around about not being in the new Star Trek movie and in other videos (below) he recounts some funny stories including a recent ‘roadrage’ incident.

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Books, Review, TNG | September 2, 2007 | By: Robert Lyons 9 comments so far

Book Review: The Buried Age

Christopher L. Bennett returns us to the Lost Era with an examination of the life of Captain Jean-Luc Picard between the destruction of the USS Stargazer to his assuming command of the USS Enterprise. Bennett crafts a multifaceted tale that opens with an outstanding look at the Battle of Maxia and its repercussions.  When the aftermath gives Picard pause, he takes some time away from Starfleet to pursue his love of archaeology, taking up studies for a doctorate under Dr. Miliani Langford at the University of Alpha Centauri.

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DS9, TNG, Toys | August 31, 2007 | By: John Tenuto 51 comments so far

More TNG and DS9 Toys For 2008

Fans of The Next Generation (and Deep Space Nine) will have much to look forward to in terms of Diamond Select collectibles for the rest of 2008. In honor of TNG’s 20th Anniversary there is a new Art Asylum first season Jean Luc Picard figure with Chair coming out in September (joining the already available Kirk and Pike w/ command chair figures). Plus Diamond has just announced a Nemesis Beverly Crusher, as well as TNG Season 7 Miles O’Brien, a limited Nurse Alyssa Ogawa, and (Diamond Previews Exclusive) Ro Laren [see below]. It is good to see DST has been listening to fan requests for more secondary characters. Those will be are joining other TNG figures becoming available over the next month…

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TOS-R Preview | August 30, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 90 comments so far

Video Preview of TOS Remastered HD-DVD

The 8+ minute video preview (below) of the Season 1 Star Trek TOS Box Set in HD-DVD has been shown by CBS at some recent cons. It shows some of the cool HD features, previews of the Billy Blackburn behind the scenes footage as well as a glimpse at unseen effects. Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames.

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TOS Remastered | August 28, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 158 comments so far

TOS Remastered Season 1 HD-DVD/DVD On Amazon Pre-Order – $139 $129 [UPDATE: Final Box Art Released]

It is finally (almost) here. Season One of Star Trek: The Original Series digitally remastered on combo HD-DVD/DVD disk is available for pre-order on Amazon.com (CLICK HERE). The Amazon price is [UPDATE: $129.99]…which is a bit more palatable (retail price is listed as $199.98 and was previously reported to be $217.99) and  Amazon lists the release date as November 20th. UPDATE: Paramount has released interior and exterior box art (see below) 

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TNG, TOS | August 25, 2007 | By: John Tenuto 55 comments so far

Majel Roddenberry On New Movie + Gene Roddenberry On Future Treks

There is a great new interview with Majel Barrett Roddenberry in the latest issue of Star Trek Magazine, just arriving in the US. The interview is mostly about her time with TNG (for the anniversary), but the magazine also asked what she thought of the new J.J. Abrams film and if she would be open to doing a part. Barrett seemed enthusiastic, saying "They’re going back to the beginning.  And I would love to do the computer voice." But she also noted that she is happy in retirement, saying "I’m ready to step back. I have no feelings of, ‘Oh, I must have another part.’  Nothing like that ever goes through my head."

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TNG | August 24, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 81 comments so far

TNG@20 – Promoting The Next Generation

Exactly 20 years ago today Paramount sent out print, TV and radio spots promoting their new Star Trek The Next Generation series, premiering in September 1987. Take a look at this promo video included on the 1987 VHS release of Star Trek IV (the 1986 hit movie that helped convince Paramount to bring Trek back to TV).

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TNG | August 23, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 58 comments so far

TV Guide Promotes Teenager’s Pirated Star Trek Video Channel

The current issue of TV Guide has an interesting Trek item in their regular ‘Hotlist: Best of the Web’ sidebar. It announces that Star Trek The Next Generation is now available to view online for free at VEOH.com That is big news as TNG is the only Trek series not available online (plus TOS, DS9, VOY and ENT episodes all cost $1.99 at XBox Live, Amazon UnBox and Apple iTunes). But once you visit the channel TV Guide lists it quickly becomes clear that this is not a new offering from CBS (who have an official VEOH channel), but rather pirated episodes being uploaded by a Norwegian teenage girl named Monica (aka ‘Meopic90’ pictured right). In addition to the channel owner clue, each episode is branded with the name and url of an unauthorized torrent site…oops.

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CBS/Paramount, TOS Remastered | August 22, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 76 comments so far

Inside The TOS-R HD DVD Box + Paramount Drops Blu-ray

TV Shows on DVD has revealed the interiors to the upcoming First Season of Star Trek The Original Series on HD DVD/DVD combo. Each of the 10 disks comes in a sleeve with a description of the episodes and features on the disk. Bear in mind that the disks are double sided (DVD on one side, HD DVD on the other)…so there is no artwork on the disks themselves.

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TOS Remastered | August 22, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 38 comments so far

Trek Remastered Season 2 Schedule Released

CBS has released the new schedule for the second syndication season of the remastered Star Trek: The Original Series. All of the remaining 40 episodes (including the original pilot "The Cage") will be aired between mid September and next August. The first episode to air will be the Spock centric "The Galileo Seven" on the weekend of September 15th – which will certainly have a lot of shots of a digital shuttle craft. This will be followed by four more episodes from the original first season of TOS (as expected due to the CBS team having to finish up for the season one HD DVD release in November). "The Ultimate Computer," the most effects laden episode for the upcoming season, will air in the 2nd weekend of February (just as "Doomsday Machine" was in the first syndication season). The project will come to an end on August 2nd 2008 with the airing of (fittingly) of the final TOS episode "Turnabout Intruder." Full schedule available at the TrekMovie.com TOS-R Season 2 Episode Guide

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Shatner, Star Trek (2009 film) | August 22, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 32 comments so far

NY Tabloid Distorting Shatner – Again

The New York tabloids want to get in on the fun that the Brit tabloids have been having with the new Star Trek movie. However, instead of fabricated casting news, they seem to want to focus on William Shatner and his (made up) anger at director J.J. Abrams (remember it was the NY Post that started the ‘Shatner is furious‘ story). Now the New York Daily News is taking Shatner’s appearance at the Las Vegas Star Trek convention (see TrekMovie.com Con report) and totally distorting it to fit with the Shatner/Abrams feud story.

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Books, Review, TOS | August 21, 2007 | By: Robert Lyons 17 comments so far

Classic Book Review – “Vulcan’s Glory”

With the eleventh feature film of the Star Trek franchise on track to possibly deliver a tale of the first adventure of Kirk and Spock aboard the starship Enterprise, one might wonder about Spock’s first mission aboard the storied vessel. Veteran Trek script writer D. C. Fontana attempted to do just that back in 1989 with "Vulcan’s Glory" – recently re-released by Pocket Books. At least a decade before the arrival of James T. Kirk on the scene, Captain Christopher Pike commands the starship Enterprise. Having recently returned to Earth for repairs and upgrades, crew transfers are also effected. Enter one Lieutenant Spock, a young Vulcan scientist who seems to have problems relaxing (according to his former commanding officer), and Lieutenant ( J.G.) Montgomery Scott, an engineering whiz and moonshiner of note. Both are new assignees to the Enterprise, and both are in for quite a ride.

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VOY | August 19, 2007 | By: James Heaney 113 comments so far

Brannon Braga Chats With The TrekMovie.com Community

Last week TrekMovie.com ran a report on Brannon Braga’s appearance at the Vegas Convention. Brannon was kind enough to drop by and keep the conversation going in the comments section where he replied to questions and comments (and rants) from many TrekMovie.com readers. Since there are 200 comments it is a bit to plow through and many readers don’t read comments anyway, so the impromptu chat has been compiled below…

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VOY | August 17, 2007 | By: Charles Trotter 86 comments so far

Picardo on Voyager Role, Roddenberry’s Vision, & New Trek Movie

In a couple new interviews Star Trek: Voyager star Robert Picardo talks on his time with Trek, his future projects and his thoughts on the new Star Trek feature. Picardo tells Seb’s Raw Takes that he initially did not have high expectations for his role as the Emergency Medical Hologram on Voyager, saying "when you accept a role that is described as ‘colorless, humorless, a computer program of a doctor’ you don’t necessarily have great expectations for how the character will develop.” The Doctor eventually became one of the break-out characters on the series and Picardo notes his thanks for how the show’s writers gave him "wonderful things to do” as his character grew and became more popular. The actor also endorsed Gene Roddenberry’s more optimistic view of the future, noting “we need more than ever to focus on the kind of hope and positive vision that Star Trek represents.”

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DS9 | August 16, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 42 comments so far

Meaney To Star In US Version Of ‘Life On Mars’

TNG and DS9 star Colm Meaney is set to co-star in the US version of the BBC hit Life On Mars being adapted by Boston Legal creator David. E. Kelley. The show is about Sam Tyler (Jason O’Mara), a modern day detective who finds himself back in the 1970s. According to the Hollywood Reporter Meaney is in final negotiations to play the role of the old school and confrontational Detective Gene Hunt. The BBC version of Hunt was played brilliantly by Philip Glenister who was key to the show’s success.

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Shatner, Star Trek (2009 film) | August 14, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 266 comments so far

Producer: Paramount Trying To Convince Shatner?

Since TrekMovie.com first announced Paramount (and MI3) veteran Stratton Leopold was going to be the unit production manager and one of the executive producers for the new Star Trek we have not heard anything from him. He did join the usual Abrams mafia (Orci, Kurtzman, Burk, and Lindelof) on stage at Comic-Con, but he didn’t say a word. Leopold is more of a behind the scenes kind of guy keeping the trains running on time, but he did give his local paper the (The Savannah Morning News) an interview where he dropped an interesting tidbit about Shatner: Leonard Nimoy will be back as Spock, said Leopold, and studio executives still hope to convince William Shatner to suit up as Captain Kirk one more time.

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Conventions/Events/Attractions, Nimoy, Shatner, Star Trek (2009 film) | August 13, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 185 comments so far

VegasCon 07 – Shatner Grills Nimoy On Star Trek Movie

As is the custom, when appearing at conventions together Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner each talk to the audience alone (one after the other) and then follow it up with a joint appearance. As Nimoy’s solo portion was winding down William Shatner came onto the stage and they had the following exchange Nimoy: How you been, Billy?Shatner: I’ve been pretty good – not as good as you, of  course!Nimoy: Been working a lot?Shatner: (remorsefully) No, no — I’ve been waiting for the call…I’m hanging by the telephone waiting for the callNimoy: I’ll call youShatner: It’s not the same as J.J. …and it got funnier from there….

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Conventions/Events/Attractions, ENT, TNG, VOY | August 12, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 200 comments so far

VegasCon 07 – Braga Reflects On A Life With Trek

Brannon Braga was one of the few Trek writer/producers to appear at this year’s Creation Las Vegas Star Trek Convention. Braga started off almost reticent, telling the crowd "it has been many years and so I am a little nervous." The veteran of Next Generation, Voyager and Enterprise made it clear that although Trek was an ‘amazing experience’ which occupied most of his adult life, he was not involved with Trek anymore and saw the con as a ‘nostalgic experience.’ After that, the Trek veteran’s appearance took on the nature of an exit interview with Braga inviting the crowd to get it off their chests: I wanted to stop by to say hi to you guys and to ask any last lingering questions you had. This may be the last one I do so this is your chance to get out you final gripes and questions.

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Conventions/Events/Attractions, Nimoy, Star Trek (2009 film) | August 12, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 184 comments so far

Vegas Con 07 – Nimoy uses TrekMovie.com comments to make a point [UPDATED]

[UPDATED] After being introduced as ‘the star of the new Star Trek movie,’ Leonard Nimoy hit the stage in Vegas, took off his jacket, and turned around to reveal his T-Shirt was emblazoned with “#1 Vulcan” on the back (sending the standing room only crowd of thousands into a frenzy). After things settled down he wryly said “I can’t imagine what you want to hear about today.” Spontaneously the crowd started chanting “movie! movie! movie!” Nimoy started off by saying “I’ve been on the Internet the last two days and what is amazing to me how people are spending their time on these blogs and website – TrekMovie.com  – hundreds of people are on there expressing their opinions about what should be done with Star Trek next. People who have never directed a Star Trek episode, people who have never directed a film, people who have never directed traffic – are voicing their opinions about what to do with the next Star Trek movie. It is fascinating.” He then pulled our a sheet of paper and I knew what was coming next!

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Conventions/Events/Attractions, TNG | August 12, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 45 comments so far

VegasCon 07 – Frakes & Spiner Clown Around + Talk Nemesis & Abrams Trek

Star Trek Generation stars Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner hit the Vegas stage like rock stars. The pair began by clowning around and that continued for the most of their fifty minute appearance. The stage was set up for a concert later which inspired the pair to go into song, starting off with a rendition of ‘Volare.’ The comedy team also did some impressions including Patrick Stewart, with Spiner’s being especially spot-on, starting off “I am the toast of England right now….” Frakes then noted was the 20th anniversary of NextGen by reflecting on what it was like for him at his first Trek convention in Syracuse New York 20 years ago filled with ‘very very angry reticent Star Trek fans.’ The actor who played Riker on Trek’s return to television in 1987 recalled the crowd’s reaction to Trek’s first spinoff: “who the hell are these impostors…the bald guy from England, the cute one with the beard, and the Jewish android.” They also joked that it seems like there is an anniversary every year now (with TNG’s 20th following last years TOS 40th). Frakes then took a dig by saying “next year is the 20th anniversary of the best career choice ever made: Denise Crosby’s ‘I’d like to quit that show now, before it gets really popular.’”

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TOS | August 10, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 53 comments so far

Nichelle Nichols To Appear In Heroes

Is the NBC hit Heroes becoming a proxy for Star Trek?. First there was the popular recurring role for George Takei (TOS: Sulu), then Dominic Keating (ENT: Malcolm Reed) was announced to recur in the 2nd Season and then series regular Zachary Quinto was announced as the new Mr. Spock for the new Star Trek movie. Earlier this week Heroes creator Tim Kring told E! News that he was looking "for another face that will have a very similar impact" to Takei when he came onto the show. Now TrekMovie.com can reveal the ‘face’ Kring was talking about is none other than Nichelle Nichols, the original Uhura. Last week TrekMovie.com was told by a source  about the Nichols casting and today had a chance to ask the actress herself about it (at the Las Vegas Creation Star Trek Convention). Nichols confirmed that she will have a recurring role, but couldn’t give any more details – noting the show’s penchant for secrecy. According to our source Nichols will appear in 5-6 episodes of the second season of Heroes.

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Conventions/Events/Attractions, Fan Productions, VOY | August 9, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 24 comments so far

VegasCon07 – Russ: Of Gods and Men To Be Released in September

From the Las Vegas Creation Star Trek Convention (Thursday)Tim Russ, the director of the independent fan film Of Gods and Men (and VOY’s Tuvok), told the Vegas crowd that the first part of the anticipated and much delayed mini-series will ‘probably’ be available for download in September. He asked fans to be patient and said that the editors and CGI artists were doing ‘painstaking work’ on the 2nd and 3rd part. However, this is not an official release date. The first part of the mini series is pretty much complete now, but they want to be able to release all three parts over a few weeks…hence the delay. Russ also showed a new version of the full trailer with new CGI effects and it is an improvement over the one on the official site.