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Tag: Star Trek

  • Star Trek: TNG Cast Would Not Want to Be in Upcoming Trek Film

    Cast members of Star Trek: The Next Generation were on hand at the New York Comic-Con on Tuesday to mingle with fans, sign autographs, and answer questions. William Shatner moderated the panel event, which included TNG alumni Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Denise Crosby, and John de Lancie.

    The topic of the upcoming Star Trek film came up. William Shatner has already played fast and loose with questions about whether or not he will be in the film, and in what capacity he would do so. The prevailing theory is that he will be in the film briefly, as Kirk, but not as Kirk Prime (the original timeline, his usual role). Some say he will actually play an older version of Chris Pine’s Kirk character.

    But this time Shatner dodged the question and passed it along to the TNG panel. How would any of them feel about the possibility of being in one of the Trek reboot films?

    The overwhelming response was that none of them thought it was a good idea or took it seriously.

    Levar Burton: “No! … That would be a no, Bill.”

    Brent Spiner: “I certainly would be honored to be in the third Star Trek film that they’re making now, playing all of the characters. And all of their families.”

    Gates McFadden: “I’m going to have to pass on that.”

    Patrick Stewart: “I think it would smack of kind of cute casting to have any of us play another role in a Star Trek movie. … I just think it would be a little awkward. I mean, I know that we’ve got half our panel still to speak. But for me, LeVar kind of said it all in one word: No.”

    Michael Dorn: “No. … It’s just because, I agree with Patrick at a certain point it just gets to be a little too much.”

    Marina Sirtis: “Yes! And I would be… Nurse Chapel.”

    John De Lancie: “It would put a lie to the notion that I’m immortal, I’m afraid. … No, I don’t even think about those things. It’s somebody else’s dinner party, and if they’re going to invite me, I’ll think about it then. But I don’t even think about it.”

    Denise Crosby: “I’d probably want to play Karl Urban’s lover… I mean, I’m sorry, mother. Mother!”

    One thing to consider is that the only TNG character who could legitimately fit in the reboot series is John De Lancie’s “Q”, since he is immortal and exists outside of time.

  • William Shatner Confirms Offer to Return to Upcoming Star Trek Film

    William Shatner Confirms Offer to Return to Upcoming Star Trek Film

    Let every voice lift up. William Shatner may be coming back to Star Trek on the big screen after all!

    After the rumor mill ground heavily last week about the possibility that William Shatner might be called upon to play Kirk once again in the upcoming Star Trek 3 installment, those rumors were doused by Shatner himself on his Twitter account. He said that the whispers were nothing but “rhetoric to cause hype”.

    Add to that the fact that those rumors put him somehow alongside Leonard Nimoy, but Nimoy denied wanting to do any onscreen time after his lung disease diagnosis, and things looked grim.

    But that tune seems to be changing.

    Shatner appeared on a panel at Wizard World Nashville Comic-Con over the weekend. and this time he confirmed that he had indeed been contacted by J.J. Abrams about appearing in the film. Shatner said that he had answered that, “It depends on what you do with the character, but I would be delighted.”

    But wait, there’s more.

    According to Badass Digest, there may even be some details about what Shatner will be called upon to do, and it does indeed involve Nimoy.

    “My sources are now telling me that not only will Shatner be in the movie, his scene will have him meeting Chris Pine. Also in that scene: Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy. But if my sources are steering me correct this won’t be original timeline Spock – it’ll be future alt-timeline Kirk and Spock. Basically the scene will have Kirk and Spock interacting with their future selves.”

    So far, no confirmation on these details is forthcoming from the Abrams camp. But Badass Digest did reveal two weeks ago that Shatner was to be involved at all. And that turns out to be correct.

    Fingers crossed.

  • Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner to Reunite in Star Trek 3?

    Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner will reportedly appear together in a scene in the upcoming film, Star Trek 3. Trekkies around the world are likely holding their breath in hopes that a confirmation of such a statement soon goes viral. To have Mr. Spock and Captain James T. Kirk together on the big screen will no doubt be a long-awaited dream come true.

    BadAssDigest was the first to leak word of such a possibility, calling the appearance of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner more of a cameo appearance than actual roles. This would mark the first time that both Kirk and Spock appear on the big screen at the same time since back in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in 1991.

    Badass questions if William Shatner, to whom they refer as being ‘prickly,’ will actually agree to the appearance. They do note, however, that he has been making noise for quite some time now about wanting to appear in yet another Star Trek film. There was a cameo written into the first Star Trek film for him, but it was dropped before shooting, and there was no place for him in Star Trek Into Darkness. This would undoubtedly be the last time William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy would appear in a film together.

    Star Trek 3 still has a while yet before shooting begins–and as anyone from the film world will no doubt attest–a lot can happen between then and now. The film isn’t set to hit theaters until some time in 2016. Do you think Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner will make this cameo together?

    This could become an integral part of Star Trek history if they do.

  • Star Trek 3: Zachary Quinto Lets Something Slip

    Star Trek 3: Zachary Quinto Lets Something Slip

    It seems like the Star Trek movies can’t come fast enough. Ever since finding out who Benedict Cumberbatch really was in the Star Trek: Into Darkness film, Trek fans have been waiting for more news on upcoming sequels.

    Will we see the new take on the Klingons again? Will any more of the original timeline characters make their way to the new films to join Leonard Nimoy? Will we see other species that have become familiar to Trek fans?

    But, more than anything, fans want to know when the next film is coming. And Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock in the new films, has finally spoken.

    “I think it’s on the horizon,” Quinto said on The Today Show. “Things are rumbling, so I have a feeling that we will be in production sometime in the next six months.”

    Okay, six months. Now, what will this film be about?

    “I think the five-year mission will be a part of this next film in some way,” Quinto said in July. “We’re coming up on the 50th anniversary of one of the most iconic sci-fi series in entertainment history so it’s inherently an ongoing story. But I do think that we’ll feel some sense of evolution in these characters that’s been building through the first few films.”

    Robert Orci, who will direct the film, is currently writing the script to Star Trek 3 with J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay.

    Regarding the storyline for the newest installment in the Trek franchise, J.D. Payne has said, “We’re trying to set up a kind of situation where you really could — and not in just an ‘everything’s relative’ sort of moral relativism — you could be a good person of any creed or philosophical background and come down on both sides of how you should respond to this opportunity that the crew has…. that also has some pitfalls to it. Where you could argue very, very, very compellingly that ‘this’ is what you should do, and if you’re advocating ‘this’ then it’s actually evil.”

  • Star Trek: Neil deGrasse Tyson Names His Favorite Captain

    It’s an argument that Trek fans have battled about since the third season of TNG: Which Star Trek series captain is best?

    Originally, it was just a Kirk vs. Picard argument. Then Janeway got rolled into the mix.

    If you walk around at a Trek convention or Comic-Con asking the question, you could damn near start a Palin-esque brawl in the hallways. Everyone has an opinion, and they all have sound reasoning — they will call it “logic” — to back up their pick.

    “Kirk was a true leader,” they may argue. “He was active and daring.”

    “But Picard weighed decisions like a statesman,” a retort may come. “He knew weakness. He knew history. He read more than Kirk, for crying out loud!”

    “Begging to differ from you all, but Janeway trumps them both. They both had Starfleet to refer back to when things got tough. Janeway was thousands of light years from home, unable to get backup or reinforcements, forced to makes friends of enemies and keep her crew together.”

    You can’t win this one.

    But, since opinions are like stable wormholes, everybody has one, the question had to be asked of one of America’s most visible and vocal scientific minds today, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. And Geekwire did just that.

    In a recent interview with Tyson, Geekwire peppered him with questions about commercial space travel, the possible existence of a multiverse, and science education. Then came the lightning round. We learned that Tyson prefers a Time Machine to a Transporter, Stephen Colbert to Jon Stewart, and Mac to Windows.

    But then came the clincher.

    GeekWire: Kirk, Picard or Janeway?

    Tyson: Kirk. I love Janeway, but Kirk. I was disappointed that Picard never actually got into a fight. Kirk could use blunt human reasoning that transcended logic, because sometimes emotion matters more than logic. If he had to fight an alien, he’d go into fisticuffs with him. Occasionally you need that. So I’m with Kirk all the way.

    Picard never got into a fight?!

    Perhaps Msr. Tyson never saw “Tapestry”, wherein we learn of a young Picard’s fight with multiple Nausicaans and how he got his artificial heart.

    Perhaps Tyson never saw this:

    Or this:

    Perhaps Neil deGrasse Tyson would like to rethink his faulty response.

  • George Takei for New Star Trek Film?

    George Takei for New Star Trek Film?

    The rumors about the next Star Trek film are already heating up. Comments by some folks associated with the upcoming production, currently slated for a 2016 release, have fans hoping for a Trek that is even more akin to the Original Series that it rebooted. Sure, the alternate timeline approach allows for variation, but it is familiar characters and settings that endear the reboot franchise to die hard Trek fans.

    Producer and co-screenwriter of Star Trek Into Darkness, Damon Lindelof, acknowledged this when he said in an interview:

    “You can never see enough Klingons, and I think in this film (Into Darkness) we’ve given the audience a little taste, but there’s also a promise that there’s a larger conflict on the horizon, and that would be fun to see.”

    Now comes news that Original Series alum George Takei is publicly saying that he would love to be involved with the reboot series in some way.

    “All they have to do is ask me! I’m more than eager,” Takei said. “As you know, Leonard Nimoy did two of the rebooted films with JJ Abrams, and they’re preparing another one because in two years, Star Trek is going to be 50 years old, so they’ll be coming out with another major feature film with a rebooted cast.”

    Takei also spoke of his ongoing friendships with other Trek alum, aside from the bizarre ongoing feud with William Shatner.

    “Nichelle is more telephone, and we have dinners and you know, there are still Star Trek conventions that happen, so we go out to dinner, chew over old times. But my favorite, my best drinking buddy, was Jimmy Doohan, who’s passed now. He was a great guy and I had some wonderful times with him,” he added.

  • Star Trek: TOS Gets Final Two Years of Original Mission, Thanks to Fans

    Star Trek: The Original Series, as the television show that started it all is called nowadays, had a problem. The show’s iconic intro voiceover proclaimed that the U.S.S. Enterprise has a “five-year mission”, but the show was canceled after only three seasons.

    Of course, it’s not like Star Trek went the way of Firefly. The TOS cast went on to do numerous feature films together. There was an animated series. There were spinoffs galore in the form of The Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space 9, and Enterprise. And then came the entire reboot of the Kirk-led stories at the hands of J.J. Abrams.

    But something about the unfinished business of those final two years of the original five-year mission has stuck in the craw of Trek fans for decades. What else might have happened in that time?

    Now a group of enterprising actors and producers aims to find out.

    A group called Far From Home, LLC is creating those final two years, with new actors and modern production sensibilities. Star Trek Continues is a non-profit, fan produced webseries that was launched in May 2013 with its first episode, “Pilgrim of Eternity.” The group launched a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $100,000 for help film more episodes.

    The group boasts some real talent in its acting and production crew, including Chris Doohan, son of James Doohan, who played the original Scotty on Star Trek. Doohan is reprising the role his dad made famous.

    Grant Imahara of Mythbusters, also famous for inventing Craig Ferguson’s robot skeleton sidekick, Geoff, is also on board. Though Imara does not voice Geoff, the skeleton does use a vaguely-George Takei-sounding voice. Imahara plays Sulu in the series, bringing the gag full circle.

  • George Takei Tells Facebook: If You Don’t Like His Humor, You Can Unfriend Him

    George Takei knows that not everyone will get his humor.

    Takei has said that he uses his humor to draw attention to causes dear to his heart, like marriage equality. In fact, it was that very thing that caused him to come out in the first place. Rather than rave and rant, Takei chooses to use humor as his weapon.

    Maybe 99% of people will dig it, but there is always that one oddball at the Golden Corral.

    After enough people griped over certain comical items that Takei had posted, the Star Trek alum took to his page for a longer post.

    It turns out that he is indeed sensitive to what might be considered “offensive” by some. He wants folk to continue to give him feedback. But if you end up getting far too bent out of shape by a Takei post, then he thinks it’s best if you find someone else to follow rather than spend your day griping at him.

    In any case, he wants folks to stop bashing each other in his post comments.

    So say we all, Uncle George. So say we all.

    Friends, I want you to know that my staff and I receive and review all your messages and as many comments as we can, and we take seriously those that say I should take something down because it is “offensive.”

    In the past day, my posts about Voldemort (being like a teenage girl), red-heads (gaining a freckle for every soul they steal), and one-night stands have each gathered their fair share of well-intentioned complaints. Were we to focus on who we might offend and not the general humor of things, nothing at all might pass muster.

    So if those kinds of posts offend you, speak your mind in the comments and continue to write letters in. With a few cases, we have seen the merits of the argument and actually taken down and apologized for inadvertent offense. But it’s impossible to satisfy everyone, so if you find this page is not for you because we poke a bit of good-hearted fun at everyone (yes, including gays and Asians) then simply don’t follow it. I hope though that you understand, however, that it’s okay to express concern (please don’t bash those that do–remember, humor is going to rub at least 1% wrong if it’s any good), and that the best response is more engagement rather than less.

    With thanks— Uncle George.

    Supporters and well-wishers piled on, railing against the railers. But the Comment of the Day Award goes to one Christopher Jon Townsend:

    “I’m totally cool with the gay thing… But I REALLY wish you would have mentioned being Asian before now. When did you make that life decision? Does your family know yet?”

  • Star Trek Town in Canada Crowdfunds Building Functional, Full-Size Enterprise

    In the Canadian Badlands, in the province of Alberta, there is a little town called Vulcan. The folks in Vulcan take the responsibility inherent in their name seriously. Every year, they host a mid-summer Star Trek celebration and festival called Spock Days. They are the Official Star Trek Capital of Canada, and the spiritual center of the Star Trek universe.

    Star Trek fans and personalities alike make the pilgrimage to Vulcan. The town has developed a Tourism and Trek Station to welcome visitors, and is also home to a stunning collection of authentic costumes and props from Star Trek television programs and films located at the Trekcetera museum.

    But the little town is looking to the future, beyond the fandom distinction of holding yet another festival. They want to become the real deal. They want to build a full-size, functional, warp-capable Starship Enterprise. And they’re not just chatting about it. They’re in early fundraising stages, and you can be a part of history by helping them launch their project.

    The plan is a 40-year, $1.132 Trillion project to build a 1:1 scale fully functional U.S.S. Enterprise starship. The founders are aware that they face certain huge obstacles to realizing their goal. But, unlike other space programs, they are seriously and earnestly looking to overcome these with research and planning.

    To that end, they have set up an IndieGogo fundraiser to collect their first funding goal of $2 billion in order to fund important research into the creation, and development, of warp-drive technology.

    Super-luminal (faster-than-light) travel is critical to interstellar space travel. So research is key. Even if this ends up looking different than the fictional “warp travel” of the Star Trek franchise, there are possibilities already being looked at by NASA and others.

    So the folks of Vulcan want to establish The Vulcan Super-Luminal Research Center that will become, as they say:

    “[It] will become a repository for everything we, as a species, know about faster-than-light travel, gravity control and more. Most importantly, though, the VSLRC will also become home to an advisory panel comprised of the world’s foremost thinkers on the subject, who will be tasked with determining which research projects into warp-related fields will be funded through the VSLRC.”

    But knowing how to get to the stars is one thing. You also need to build a vessel that can actually get there. The folks of Vulcan envision a Vulcan Spaceport, and they know just where they want it.

    “Just outside the town of Vulcan AB, lies the decommissioned Vulcan Aerodrome. As a former Royal Canadian Air Force base, this historic site provides a unique foundation upon which the entire project can be built … [T]he site will be expanded … and will become the permanent home to the production facilities required to construct the Enterprise, as well the spaceport required to service the mighty ship.”

    If you believe in this ambitious project that Vulcan is embarking on, you can contribute. Even just $10 will get your name included on a permanent monument located at the future home of the Vulcan Super-Luminal Research Center.

    For $10K, you will be invited to the warp-drive debut. For $500 million, they will name the Research Center in your honor. And for $1 billion, they will name the spaceport itself in your honor.

  • William Shatner Reveals Some Juicy Star Trek TNG Gossip

    William Shatner is just as relevant as ever, perhaps more so. The man is a pop-culture icon, right up there with the likes of George Takei.

    Now the Captain/Admiral is once again mining the lode that brought him all that attention. His latest project, a new documentary William Shatner Presents: Chaos on the Bridge, takes a look at the first two years of production for Star Trek: The Next Generation.

    Shatner was not on that show, of course, but that doesn’t stop him from bringing some insider info to light.

    The documentary explores the early days of the TNG project through interviews with cast members. Among other tidbits, Shatner reveals that Patrick Stewart was not the first choice for Captain Jean-Luc Picard. He also talks about infighting and back stabbing that went on behind the scenes among other members of the cast.

    The one-hour documentary gives particular attention to the role of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in launching and shepherding the TNG series.

    The Toronto Sun calls the project “a rich, raucous look at the messy birth of TV’s most famous utopian future, and the two years that nearly ended the whole thing before it started.”

    Shatner has been making the rounds of late, particularly thanks to his decades-old “feud” with Original Series and feature films co-star George Takei. The origin of their acrimony is still a mystery. Shatner denies ever giving Takei cause for animosity toward him, and contradicts the tales Takei tells about his on-set behavior.

    Perhaps we will one day discover that these two have been playing us all and laughing all the way to the bank thanks to a rumor mill snit that really amounts to nothing.

  • Star Trek Secrets Revealed By William Shatner In ‘Chaos On The Bridge’ Documentary

    William Shatner Presents: Chaos on the Bridge is a one-hour documentary that brings to light the tumultuous beginnings of one of the most successful franchises in TV history.

    Written and directed by William Shatner, Chaos on the Bridge offers an enlightening look at the first two seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The documentary premieres on Monday on HBO Canada.

    Twenty years after TV audiences said goodbye to the show, Trekkies will get an insider’s take on how Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry first envisioned the show as well as how his battles with his own personal demons affected the series.

    Shatner, the original Captain James Tiberius Kirk, conducts candid interviews with The Next Generation cast members like Sir Patrick “Jean-Luc Picard” Stewart, Denise Crosby, Jonathan Frakes, and John de Lancie. The cast members reveal a situation of confusion as they remember the egos, the infighting, the fan backlash, the bluffs and threats and how Roddenberry and the show’s producers tried to weather it all.  The documantary further reveals that the cast didn’t seem sure they should even make a new Star Trek series at all.

    “The first and second seasons of The Next Generation are almost unwatchable,” says Ronald D. Moore, a former writer on Star Trek. Moore would go on to create the Battlestar Galactica reboot.

    The documentary also promises to be full of unvarnished insights and recollections from the likes of Paramount television’s then-president John Pike, series writers Maurice Hurley and D.C. Fontana, producers and spin-off shepherds Rick Berman and Brannon Braga and many other behind-the-scenes crew.

    The interviews and insights all point to the genius of Roddenberry’s creative vision which brought the series to life. However, the credit for the success that allowed Star Trek to gain a new series and new movies goes to his successors, who took over the show as a result of Roddenberry’s ailing health and death in 1991.  It was only when they shifted the show’s focus towards making it more about the characters and conflict, that the series soared to unprecedented heights.

  • Star Trek Communicator Badges Coming for First Responders

    The list of devices inspired by Star Trek and now available in the real world is getting longer all the time. We already have padds (Kindle and tablet devices), as well as a “transparent aluminum”, a vocal computer interface, and hypospray devices.

    Now a startup is taking a crack at the ubiquitous communitcator devices worn as lapel badges by later Star Trek personnel. Fans are accustomed to seeing standard issue Starfleet comm badges on every uniform from Next Generation on. A simple tap was all it took to activate the comm badge and communicate within the ship, or even from a planet surface.

    The company is called OnBeep and it has raised $6.25 million to help launch its first product.

    “It clips to your shirt or coat or blouse or bag strap. It’s worn very similar to a badge or a broach and designed to be operated with one hand, a single gesture. You’re able to press or gesture communicate, speak and be heard,” said Jesse Robbins of OnBeep.

    Robbins and Greg Albrecht founded OnBeep. Albrecht works as a part-time emergency responder, and is therefore intimately familiar with the need for a hands-free device such as this in his line of work.

    “I kept coming back to this idea of bringing real-time group communication, the type of communication that I’ve always been able to use in a lifesaving capacity, to everyone… I wanted to be able to bring them the same sort of heads up, engaged, in the moment tech that we have when we use [fire department] radios, but that don’t weigh 4 pounds,” Robbins said.

    OnBeep’s ideas are following the trend of wearable technology.

    “It’s a statement, whatever technology decisions, whatever fashion decisions people make, it’s a statement about who they are,” Robbins says. “We focus a lot on getting out of the Silicon Valley, San Francisco typical tech worker design mentality.”

  • Star Trek 2016 Screenplay Draft Complete

    Star Trek 2016 Screenplay Draft Complete

    Star Trek: Into Darkness may have been the biggest disappointment for trekkies since Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, but the latest Star Trek movie topped the box office and proved that J.J. Abrams’ action-movie vision of Trek does hold some appeal for a wider movie audience. With these factors in mind, fans of the franchise are both bracing themselves for another disaster and clinging to the hope that Paramount hasn’t fully abandoned what made Star Trek popular in the first place.

    Luckily for Star Trek fans, the next movie will have the benefit of a new director that might be able to capture the spirit of the franchise. It was recently announced that Abrams will be stepping aside to focus on the new Star Wars movies, allowing Roberto Orci to take control of Trek. Orci was a co-writer of the two recent Star Trek reboot movies and has written for other movies such as Mission: Impossible III and Transformers.

    Orci recently stirred a bit more hype for the 13th Star Trek movie by confirming that his first draft for the next movie is already complete. Earlier this month Orci took to the comments section of a TrekMovie.com article about himself to deflect criticism that he may not be taking Trek seriously. In one comment Orci wrote that “p & m & I wrote,’fade out’ yesterday on first draft. things are moving,” referring to his co-writers, John D. Payne and Patrick McKay.

    Orci later confirmed this comment with TrekMovie, stating that the first draft for the third Star Trek reboot movie is now complete. He also stated that shooting on the movie is expected to start in spring 2015. This news means that the next Star Trek movie is on-schedule to hit the 2016 release date that Paramout has pinned to the project.

    Orci has also recently reassured fans that the next movie will be closer to the original series and set in deep space. For Trek fans this might offer hope, though the pain of Into Darkness is likely to keep most of them skeptical.

    Image via Paramount/Facebook

  • William Shatner, George Takei: Strange Quid Pro Quo

    Over the years, the enmity between William Shatner and George Takei has popped up over and over again. The two Star Trek alum take shots at each other from time to time in the media. But no one is really sure why, other than just general incompatibility.

    Even Shatner himself says he is clueless about why Takei hates him. He says he does not really know the guy. He would see him only briefly during television and movie shoots. Even on convention visits and such, they are often out on different days.

    “He keeps saying bad things about me to everybody,” Shatner says. “I don’t know what he’s talking about. Rather than pursue it, I ignore it.”

    Takei himself relished the opportunity to participate in the Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner, lathering on the animosity where most invitees tossed good-natured ribs.

    “I can finally say what I’ve been waiting 40 years to say,” Takei told Shatner at the roast. “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on!”

    “I had 40 years of material, and they only gave me four minutes,” Takei says. “I could have done the whole roast myself.”

    The Takei portion of the roast was so popular, that Shatner wanted to use it as part of his one-man show Shatner’s World. So when George Takei wanted to include interview footage of Shatner in his documentary To Be Takei, a give and take was in the works.

    “We had to bargain for it,” Takei says. “He wanted something from me, so he reluctantly agreed.”

    “It was quid pro quo,” says Shatner agrees.

    Documentary director Jennifer Kroot was surprised that Shatner would agree to do the interview.

    “I never dreamed in a million years that William Shatner would agree to this,” she says. “I doubt any of these guys is losing sleep about their mutual dislike. On the other hand, they really just don’t like each other.”

    But Shatner did agree, to only ten minutes of interview.

    “He didn’t sugarcoat it,” Kroot says. “And at the end of 10 minutes, he said: ‘That’s it. That’s time. That’s the agreement.’

    “They cannot get along. They are both human. I love Star Trek gossip as much as the next guy, and it’s hysterical. What can be more interesting than this media feud?”

    Image via YouTube

  • ‘Star Trek 3’ Has a Confirmed Director: Roberto Orci

    When it was announced that J.J. Abrams would be the director of the newest Star Wars trilogy, the entire sci-fi community almost collapsed in on itself. It wasn’t that the community thinks Abrams is a bad director or terrible person or ill-informed or anything necessarily negative; it’s just the fact that at the time of his hiring, Abrams was also the director of the newly rebooted Star Trek movie series. With the long-lasting feud between Jedi-wannabes and Trekkies, there was no way Abrams was going to be able to direct both franchises. Understanding that Star Wars was the bigger and better opportunity (Admit it, Trekkies.), Abrams decided to give the opportunity to direct the Star Trek series to someone else. That someone else happens to be Roberto Orci, Abrams’s co-writer for the first two installments of the Star Trek reboot.

    In speaking with BBC News yesterday, Simon Pegg (who plays Scotty in the reboots), confirmed that Orci will indeed be the newest director of the Star Trek franchise, despite reluctance from Paramount Studios:

    I’m really happy he’s doing it as it’s kept within the family kind of thing, it’s not somebody coming in from outside.Bob’s been there since the first Star Trek – by that I mean the 2009 one – so it seemed to make perfect sense that he come in as a director on this one because he gets it. He was always the most Trekkie of all of those guys anyway, he’s always understood the story the best so it’s great that he’s going to be involved in the writing and directing.

    The statement from Pegg corroborates an earlier statement the actor made at a Star Trek convention last month when he simply said, “Bob is going to direct the new film.”

    Rumor has it that Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Joe Cornish (Attack the Block) were the original frontrunners for the directing job because Paramount wanted someone who had no previous relation to the franchise.

    While Orci has written for the first two movies, he does bring a breath of fresh air to the series as this will be his directorial debut. In the past, Orci has written for such films as Transformers, Mission Impossible III and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. With the newest installment of Star Trek, Orci is expected to hearken back to the original series moreso than Abrams.

    The plot for Star Trek 3 (not the working title, by the way) centers around the original five-year journey of the USS Enterprise as featured in the original TV series. Because of its central plot idea, many think this installment will bring more of a philosophical flair to the series, giving original Trekkies exactly what they want.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Star Trek’s William Shatner Afraid of Flying?

    Virgin CEO Richard Branson gave Captain Kirk the chance to go into space. William Shatner turned him down, and Branson says it’s because Shatner is afraid to fly.

    Needless to say, this is a tale that beggars belief. Let’s look a little deeper.

    Virgin Galactic is a commercial spaceflight company. Their plan is to offer suborbital spaceflights to space tourists. Given William Shatner’s name built on his Star Trek persona, and that he is still involved in NASA programs from time to time, Richard Branson spoke to the actor about booking a seat on one of these suborbital flights.

    “He actually said he’s frightened of airline travel — which is slightly disillusioning. Captain Kirk is scared of flying,” Branson said.

    This gets even more disillusioning when you know that the name of the vessel Shatner would be aboard is the VSS Enterprise (Virgin SpaceShip).

    But Shatner has a bit more to say on the subject. He said that Branson wanted him to buy a ticket, which would be about $200,000.

    “I said, ‘Well, that’s not much, how much do you guarantee to come back?’ And he didn’t have a price on that,” joked Shatner.

    “He wanted me to go up and pay for it and I said: ‘Hey, you pay me and I’ll go up. I’ll risk my life for a large sum of money.’ But he didn’t pick me up on my offer.”

    Even if Shatner won’t live up to his Star Trek reputation on his own dime, lots of other celebs are signing on and plunking down the fee. The rock band Muse is all fired up to go, as are Stephen Hawking, Tom Hanks, Ashton Kutcher, Katy Perry, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie.

    The flight launches from an airplane already in flight, so they are not blasting off from ground. It lasts about two hours and includes about six minutes of weightlessness in sub-orbit.

    Image via YouTube

  • Star Trek Holodeck Gets a Step Closer to Reality

    The Star Trek franchise has given us a vision of the future that looks pretty bright, for the most part. Aside from tangling with the occasional Borg cube, genetically-engineered Mexican Sikh, or omniscient smart-ass, things are almost utopian. And there are so many cool gadgets to play with: food replicators, transporters, phasers that can be adjusted to do almost anything.

    One of the most wished-for pieces of tech from the Star Trek television shows and movies is the holodeck. The idea of the holodeck seemed to evolve over the life of The Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space Nine, and various feature films.

    The holodeck was basically a room equipped with “holo-emitters” that projected holograms throughout the room. Some of the holodeck’s features are based on the same basic technological principles as the transporter system, some on replicated matter, tractor beams, and holograms. The holodeck would produce or mimic solid material such as metal, fabric, food, and flesh.

    A person could write their own scenario that they wanted to experience, based on parameters already stored within the computer system. You could take a vacation on a beach, including the ocean, sun, sand, and wind. You could train in an athletic or combat scenario. You could generate a partner and have sex.

    One of the key features of a holodeck was that it could simulate huge distances, allowing you to hike for miles, for example. This was possible even though the holodeck room itself was of limited size, aboard a starship or space station, for example. This was an illusion created by the programming to lead a person around the room, but making them think they were always moving forward.

    Having a real holodeck is the stuff of trekkie fantasy. Maybe, in some fashion, that fantasy is not too far being fulfilled.

    In Sunnyvale, California — not to be confused with Sunnydale, where the Hellmouth is — Advanced Micro Devices is working on a holodeck. The room is shaped like a dome and covered with wall-to-wall projectors. It uses surround sound and other technologies to mimic real-world conditions.

    This kind of mimicry may seem far from holodeck levels, but as Michio Kaku says, “Eventually, wallpaper will become intelligent and we will paper over our entire living room with intelligent paper, surrounding and immersing ourselves with 3-D images. Much of this technology already exists, but in crude form.”

    As for that “infinite space in a finite room” problem, the United States Army Research Laboratory has the answer to that. They have created a floor called an “omnidirectional treadmill” that allows one to keep on moving, without covering much ground.

    But this is not the only venture to take a stab at building a holodeck. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany have their own version. This version uses an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, paired with a pre-set room, to allow someone to move about in a virtual environment. The subject wears “markers”, much like those used in motion-capture filmmaking, to help interface with the system and “track” the user.

    With advances such as these, especially if driven by the gaming industry, perhaps we aren’t too far off from some semblance of a holodeck experience.

    Image via YouTube

  • William Shatner and NASA Share Twitter Exchange

    William Shatner and NASA Share Twitter Exchange

    Iconic actor William Shatner tweeted to NASA on Saturday, and received an update on the status of the International Space Station.

    Back in April, NASA honored Shatner with its highest award bestowed upon civilians, the Distinguished Public Service medal. The medal cited Shatner for “outstanding generosity and dedication to inspiring new generations of explorers around the world, and for unwavering support for NASA and its missions of discovery.”

    Best known for his role as Captain James Tiberius Kirk on Star Trek: The Original Series, Shatner has been somewhat of an informal spokesman for NASA over the past few years, issuing a Star Trek-themed wake-up call to the astronauts of the Discovery mission STS-133 in 2011. In 2012, the actor recorded a message for the occupants of the International Space Station, and also narrated a video regarding NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover:

    Here is the Twitter exchange from Saturday:

    Shatner, an avid Twitter user, has contacted NASA before via the platform, and in 2013 traded tweets with astronaut Chris Hadfield, Canada’s first space station commander:

    Shatner, 83, was recently in the news for panning a new Facebook app called “Mentions,” which is geared toward celebrities, and tracks how many times their names are mentioned in social media.

    Shatner’s assessment of “Mentions”:

    “I’m not quite sure why Facebook released this app for ‘celebrities’. It seems to be ill conceived. I will probably use it to post to my Facebook when I’m on my phone but it doesn’t allow for mail or groups. I will continue to use my regular Facebook App as well as the Pages app.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Star Trek: William Shatner Is Cooler Than You

    Star Trek: William Shatner Is Cooler Than You

    William Shatner has the life. He’s had one of those roles that was not only famous for the usual pop culture reasons, but it endeared him to a generation or two as an icon. Shatner’s voice is not just associated with Star Trek, it’s associated with space travel in general. As such, he was recently honored by NASA with a Distinguished Public Service medal.

    But William Shatner has done more than just Trek. There was T.J. Hooker. Snicker all you want. He got to run around with Heather Locklear for five seasons. That’s longer than the original Star Trek ran.

    But there’s also his iconic role as Denny Crane, first on The Practice, then on Boston Legal. Denny Crane had these words of Zen-like wisdom for us all:

    “No matter how hard your day, no matter how tough your choices, how complex your ethical decisions, you always get to choose what you have for lunch.”

    And that is the kind of material you get, and should get, from William Shatner. The man is living the life, and he knows it.

    “If you make a fool of yourself, you can do it with dignity, without taking your pants down. And if you do take your pants down, you can still do it with dignity.”

    “My boy, that was a TV show. I used a stunt double. I always use a stunt double. Except in love scenes. I insist on doing those myself.”

    Shatner has not gone out to pasture, either. He maintains a strong presence on Twitter, live-tweeting television shows, commenting on society, and engaging with fans.

    Shatner even prowls on Reddit.

    And he reviews apps, thoroughly too, on his Tumblr account. Like his review of Facebook’s new Mentions app.

    But he isn’t keen on Pinterest.

    Shatner explained himself best: “I am surfing the giant life wave.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Star Trek Controls Going into New U.S. Spacecraft

    Star Trek-style technology is becoming reality around us everyday. We have cell phones that look like the old communicators that Kirk flipped open. E-readers like the Kindle and tablets like the iPad are a lot like the Next Generation-era padds (Personal Access Display Device) that Picard and others used. There are lots of things that we are bringing from Trek’s future into our present.

    There was a two-part episode of Voyager called “Future’s End” that even flirted with the idea that someone in the mid-20th century found Trek technology from the future and used it to launch the micro-computer revolution we are living in today. That episode itself used lots of themes and jokes from the Voyage Home feature film. The Trek folks are meta like that.

    A 1993 study from Purdue University found that children learn more about science from Star Trek than from any other source.

    And now we have the news from Air & Space Smithsonian that a new American spacecraft is being built that will utilize another Star Trek feature. Not warp nacelles or tractor beams, but something very familiar to all Trek fans from Next Generation forward.

    The Orion capsule will feature very few control switches, as were in NASA craft of the past, and instead move to a touchscreen interface. The system is called “eProc” (electronic procedures), and is programmed to bring up the needed pages of icons as the user navigates the interface.

    Trek fans will remember LCARS, the interface used in Trek computers, that was all touchscreen. LCARS is an acronym for Library Computer Access/Retrieval System. Scenic art supervisor and technical consultant Michael Okuda designed the LCARS interface to make the bridge of the newest Enterprise look clean and sleek.

    “I came up with the LCARS style in part because of Gene Roddenberry’s directive that he wanted his new Enterprise to be so advanced that it looked simple and clean,” Okuda said. “The other part of the LCARS style was that it had to be something that could be manufactured quickly and easily on a television budget.”

    The original setup on TNG was a simple plexiglass front with backlit printouts of the buttons needed. Later they installed video monitors within the panels so the interface could be changed at will.

    Nowadays, we are used to the notion of touchscreen interfaces. They are in most smartphones, thanks to Apple leading the way with the iPhone. You can even get apps and wallpapers that will make your smartphone look like it is sporting the LCARS system.

    There is even a very geek-centric website that is designed around the LCARS interface.

    Image via YouTube

  • ‘Slender Man’ Stabbing Suspect Trial Delayed

    Morgan Geyser, one of two 12-year-olds charged with stabbing a classmate to appease the fictional internet entity The Slender Man, has been deemed unfit to stand trial.

    On May 31, Geyser, along with friend Anissa Weier, lured their 12-year-old classmate into a wooded area in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where they allegedly held her down and stabbed her 19 times. The victim crawled away and was discovered by a cyclist.

    While being interviewed by the police, the two attackers admitted that the stabbing was the first step toward becoming “proxies” to The Slender Man. Geyser said she believed that The Slender Man lived in a mansion in Wisconsin, where she and her accomplice could live, after they completed a murder. Both were charged as adults for first-degree intentional homicide, and are facing up to 65 years imprisonment each.

    The Slender Man character originated as an Internet meme created by Something Awful forums user Eric Knudsen in 2009. The Slender Man is tall, thin, has a blank face and wears a black suit, and is typically depicted as staking, abducting and traumatizing people, usually children.

    Here is a fakelore documentary on The Slender Man:

    Commenting on Geyser’s mental status, Dr. Brooke Lundbohm told the Waukesha County court that the tween is “standing mute.” Lundbohm revealed that Geyser likewise believes in unicorns, thinks she has mind-control capabilities similar to the Vulcan race of Star Trek lore and has conversations with Harry Potter villain Lord Voldemort. She is likewise afraid to mention much about The Slender Man, for fear he would harm her or her family. She also claimed to communicate with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

    According to Kenneth Robbins, a psychiatrist hired by the defense, Geyser was described as being “giddy,” was laughing inappropriately while being interviewed and seemed unconcerned about a lengthy prison sentence.

    While both doctors agreed that Geyser is not faking, Lundbohm believes that with medication, the defendant will be ready to stand trial in time. “She needs to grow up,” Lundbohm commented.

    Judge Michael Bohren set a hearing for November 12 to get an update on Geyser’s condition.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons