Trek on TV

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Comics, Review, TNG | July 16, 2007 | By: John Tenuto 14 comments so far

Review TNG Comics “The Space Between” #5 & #6

It was the best of comics, it was the worst of comics… The conclusion to IDW’s Star Trek The Next Generation "The Space Between" saga is both disappointing and enjoyable.  IDW’s TNG comics have always been a mixture of good and problematic.   Neither Issue 5 "Space Seeds" or issue 6 deviates from these expectations.   IDW comics have a good sense of the characters.  Each issues has presented characters that are familiar to their television versions.  However, the situations they deal with and the narratives of the issues are problematic. 

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Nimoy, Shatner | July 16, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 24 comments so far

Shatner To Host Talk Show [UPDATED]

William Shatner may not be in the new Star Trek movie, but he does have yet another job. A&E announced a revamping of their Biography Channel including a rebranding to simply ‘Bio.’ They are introducing a slate of original reality programming with ‘the centerpiece’ being a new talk show tentatively titled "William Shatner’s Raw Nerve" hosted by The Shat himself. A&E senior VP of nonfiction and alternative programming Rob Sharenow describes the show: "It’s not going to be your typical celebrity junket show — he’s going to get the most interesting, unusual celebrities and notable people.” No information on when the show will premiere. More info at Multichannel News. [UPDATED: Variety is reporting A&E have ordered 13 episodes and the show will premiere in 2008.] More Shat: New Shatner video on how he can’t say no to adventurous projects

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Shatner | July 15, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 204 comments so far

Bring Back Kirk Campaign Reacts To Latest News

With all the recent news TrekMovie.com thought it would check in with the ‘Bring Back Kirk’ Campaign and see what they thought of JJ Abrams plans for bringing back Kirk (but maybe not William Shatner). The BBK campaign started in the aftermath of Star Trek Generarations in 1994 by some fans who were not happy with how the character of Kirk was uncerimonially killed off. The BBK claim over a million hits a year to their site, with growing trafic over recent months (for obvious reasons). Although they have never had any contact with Shatner or Parmount they have shown up in some documentaries as well as getting media coverage by various genre sites and mags as well as TV Guide. They may be best known for their elaborate CGI trailers trailers using audio clips from films, TV and audio books to weave together a story around Kirk’s return. Jason Turner (29, freelance web designer from the UK) spoke to TrekMovie.com on behalf of the BBK campign and gave their thoughts on the latest news. 

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TNG, TOS | July 13, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 23 comments so far

Takei & Wheaton Talk About Favorite Episodes of TOS and TNG

In a new video for the Kirk v Picard Script Writing Contest George Takei and Wil Wheaton talk about their favorite episodes. Takei’s pick is "The Naked Time" and Wheaton’s favorite is (as an actor) "The First Duty," but said "Inner Light" was his favorite as a fan.   In a second video Wheaton answers some fan questions showing off his true nerdiness, and also acts out some classic Wesley dialog from the KvP script writing contest. Video courtesy of Fanlib, Clips form CBS

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TOS Remastered | July 9, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 102 comments so far

TOS-R HD-DVD To Preview At Comic Con – Includes New 60’s Behind Scenes Footage

Included on the new Comic-Con schedule for later this month is a panel just for Star Trek Remastered on HD DVD. The schedule does not list any of the TOS-R producers, and TrekMovie.com has confirmed that the Okudas and Dave Rossi cannot make it. However the panel does include Billy Blackburn [pictured] who appeared in 61 TOS episodes without any lines (as  Mr. Hadley). Why? Because Blackburn carried a camera and got a lot of great shots around the TOS set. Some of this footage was seen in the ITV "After They Were Famous" episode on Trek (available on YouTube). The panel info for the TOS-R DVD says the disks will contain this "never-before-seen, behind-the-scenes 8mm footage."

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Fan Fiction, Humor, TNG | July 5, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 60 comments so far

Wil Wheaton’s Shatner and Stewart Impersonations

Things are progressing over at the Kirk v Picard Script Writing Contest. They are about half way through and just picked the round two scene. finalists. In a new video Wil Wheaton actually acts out some of the moments from the round one finalists, including part of a scene written by TrekMovie.com contributor James Heaney (wowbagger). Wheaton hams it up, but also pokes some good fun at Wesley.   Is Wil trying out to be the new Kirk? Keep track of the goings on at the Official Blog (run by yours truly)

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TOS-R Preview | July 3, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 133 comments so far

Image From Charlie X Remastered

StarTrek.com have put up a new image from next weekend’s "Charlie X." It shows a new design for the freighter USS Antares which was never shown in the original. CBS-D based the design on the USS Woden (although it looks a lot like a TAS cargo drone) This is another example of what is great about the Remastered project – putting a ship into the establishing shot that should have been there in the first place but wasn’t due to time and/or budget issues.

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Review, TOS Remastered | July 3, 2007 | By: Jeff Bond 51 comments so far

Review – “The Omega Glory” Remastered

Once again it befalls me to offer the defense of a not-very-well-thought-of episode of original Trek. When most people bring up “The Omega Glory,” it’s to do their impression of William Shatner’s inimitable (well, actually, VERY imitatable) delivery of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution at the episode’s infamous climax: “WE…THE PEOPLE…of the unitedstates…do ORDAIN and ESTABLISH this Constitution–!!” It’s a groaner of an ending that quantifies Gene Roddenberry’s somewhat flat-footed idea of a rampant biological war between parties on an alien planet that effectively throws them into the Stone Age. That in itself isn’t bad (if having already been done in a sense in episodes like “Miri”), but Roddenberry (who was supposedly inspired to write this episode after viewing the actual Constitution on a trip to Washington D.C.) turns “The Omega Glory” into a Cold War parable that’s strangely racist, with warring “Yankees” and “Commies” descended from yet another culture apparently identical to ours right down to language both spoken and written.

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TOS Remastered | July 1, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 12 comments so far

TOS-R Is Turning Japanese

The digitally remastered Star Trek The Original Series is about to take its first trip overseas. Starting July 21st TOS-R will be airing on the satellite channel BS2 (part of Japanese Broadcasting Corp. – NHK). The show will be using the same airing order used for USA syndication.   The announcement (translated from the Japanese) on the NHK site describes the show:

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TOS | June 30, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 24 comments so far

Star Trek (Again) Tops TV Guide List Of Top Cult Shows

For the second time TV Guide has put together a list of the top 30 ‘Cult Shows’ of all time…and Star Trek again tops the list. In fact the top 4 remained the same from the last time they did a list in 2004 (Trek, X-Files, Buffy and Farscape). J.J. Abrams’ Lost is a new entry at number 5, pushing Monty Python down to 6th. See TVGuide.com for the full list.  

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Orci/Kurtzman, Shatner, ST09 Cast | June 28, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 59 comments so far

‘Star Trek’ Writers Talk Shatner, Kirk, Spock & Terrorism

In a new interview with MTV, ‘Star Trek’ writers (and executive producers) Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman respond to the recent rumors that William Shatner is upset that he will not appear in the film. "We were very surprised about that" said Kurtzman. Orci followed up saying "We’re certainly hoping to include him in the shoot, because we have nothing but reverence and awe for the man." If true and if ‘in the shoot’ means ‘in front of the camera,’ then it could be inferred that the final draft of the script has a part for Shatner (although that does not mean it would be playing Kirk necessarily). With regards to the casting of the new Kirk and if he should….speak….like…..Shatner, Orci replied: It’s tough, because so many of the people that portrayed the characters in ‘Star Trek’ were distinctive. A lot of the writing created Shakespearean-type characters, such that you could imagine it going both ways. You could imagine it being open to interpretation, or you can imagine it being really faithful. We’re trying to figure out how to do it.

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Comics, Review, TOS | June 26, 2007 | By: Mark Martinez 5 comments so far

Review: Star Trek: Klingons — Blood Will Tell #3

Klingon High Council member Kahnrah and his granddaughter, K’Ahlynn, continue their discussion of Klingon experiences with the Federation. When espionage fails miserably as a tool for expanding the Empire (Blood Will Tell #2), the Klingons begin a campaign of conquest by subterfuge on the planet Neural (TOS, A Private Little War). Kinsman Krell, commander of the IKS Korthos, visits Neural on a regular basis and plants the seeds of conquest firmly in the hearts and minds of the village people after selecting Apella, a hapless villager, to be his liasion. In spite of Earther interference with the hill people, Krell is successful. K’Ahlynn finds little to admire in the Federation’s response to Krell’s efforts, but Kahnrah needs to know if humans can be trusted, and still hasn’t made a decision about Gorkon’s plan. Stardate: After 9521.6, following the explosion of Praxis, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country with a flashback to 4211.4, Commander Krell’s Log Entry #3854, IKS Korthos

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Nimoy, Shatner, ST09 Cast | June 21, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 103 comments so far

Rumor: Shatner Jealous Over Nimoy?

There is a new rumor from the Gossip page of the NY Post stating that William Shatner is upset that Leonard Nimoy has been offered a cameo in the the new Star Trek film and he has not. Last week we reported on the Shatnervision segment where the Shat said he had not heard anything from Paramount and ‘it made him sad’. It is possible the NYP has convoluted that into Shatner being ‘furious.’ The report is denied by Shatner’s manager Larry Thompson and his office tells TrekMovie.com they have nothing else to say on it. No comment is available from Paramount either. The notion that Shatner has not been cast or even contacted but they are casting Nimoy cannot be confirmed. It is also worth noting that both actors have said they were not interested in unsubstantial ‘cameos.’ For now it is just another one of those rumors (remember the one about Tom Cruise playing Spock). If we hear anything more we will provide an update. 

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TOS Remastered | June 21, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 50 comments so far

Rossi Talks Upcoming TOS-R Episodes

In the latest issue of Star Trek Magazine (out now in the UK and elsewhere, in the US next week) TOS-R producer Dave Rossi talks about progress on the project. He says that the team are ‘really proud’ of the work and jokes that ‘the mini skirts look really good’ in HD. Rossi acknowledged that the biggest challenge is time, but noted that now that they have a ‘cache’ of 90 new shots of the Enterprise they can re-use (more than the 17 TOS used), they can focus on episode specific shots. Regarding those he talked about a number of episodes (some of which have already aired), but also gave some hints at what we can expect in four unaired episodes…detail below.

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Review, TOS Remastered | June 20, 2007 | By: Kevin Ganster 46 comments so far

Review – “Plato’s Stepchildren” Remastered

It’s one thing for television producers to torture their fictional characters, but it’s quite another when they torture their hapless viewers. Unfortunately, that’s the result of this pointless, turgid, plodding episode. “Plato’s Stepchildren” is among the “bitter dregs” of the third season, if not the entire series. Here’s the plot: The intrepid Enterprise crew responds to a distress call from a small society of aliens with psycho-kinetic powers who torture Kirk and Spock to force McCoy to make a permanent house call. The crew discovers the chemical source of the aliens’ power, juices themselves up with a super high dose, and beats them at their own game. The end.

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Conventions/Events/Attractions, Feature Films (TMP-NEM), Star Trek (2009 film), TNG | June 15, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 87 comments so far

Frakes Skewers Paramount – Praises Abrams

At last weekend’s FedCon 16 in Germany Jonathan Frakes let loose on Paramount and the last Trek movie, but then had some nice things to say about JJ Abrams and the next movie. Regarding the box office failure Star Trek Nemesis, the director of two previous films joked "there was a perfectly good director available." He then used a couple empty seats reserved for Paramount to poke some fun at the studio. Holding up the chair signs he yelled out "this is a perfect example, see who is not here…Paramount…need I say more? That speaks volumes." To cheers from the audience he continued, "Paramount doesn’t show up. Paramount doesn’t know what to do with the franchise."