Category: Star Trek

JJ Abramsí Star Trek sequel has a release date
Here’s some welcome news to kick off the week. Given that many of us have now devoured the film numerous times on disc, questions have inevitably been raised about when we can expect to see Star Trek 2/12/whatever you want to call it. And it seems that Paramount Pictures has now answered that question.
The studio has earmarked June 29th 2012 as the day for the next Star Trek movie, making first claim on that summer’s big release dates. There was early speculation that a sequel may be turned around in two years rather than three (the former being the pattern that the Iron Man and Transformers films appear to be following), but it soon became clear that that would be a fairly big ask.
As such, we’ve got to wait another couple of years yet, but at least we know what date to ring in our diaries.

Star Trek: Season Three goes Blu in December
Paramount Home Entertainment has just added a Blu-Ray Disc set of Star Trek: The Original Series: Season Three to their line-up, bringing the showís final season to high definition in December.
Space. The Final Frontier. The U.S.S. Enterprise embarks on a five year mission to explore the galaxy. The Enterprise is under the command of Captain James T. Kirk. The First Officer is Mr. Spock, from the planet Vulcan. The Chief Medical Officer is Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy. With a determined crew, the Enterprise encounters Klingons, Romulans, time paradoxes, tribbles and genetic supermen lead by Khan Noonian Singh. Their mission is to explore strange new worlds, to seek new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.
In addition to presenting the show in 1080p high definition with a DTS 7.1 HD Master Audio language track, the set will once again be filled with bonus materials. Lookf or part 3 of Billy Blackburnís Treasure chest, as well as the Unaired Alternate Pilot Episode for ìWhere No Fan Has Gone Before.î Further you will find numerous Featurettes on the release, including ìLife Beyond Trek: Walter Koenig,î ì”The Anthropology of Star Trek” ComiCon Panel 2009î, ìChief Engineer’s Log ï Other: “The World of Rod Roddenberry” ComiCon 2009,î ìMemoir From Mr. Sulu,î ìCaptain’s Log: Bob Justman,î and others. Further the disc set will contain Trailers and Collectible Trek and more.
ìStar Trek: The Original Series: Season Threeî will be in stores on December 3 for $129.99.

A Whole Lot of Trek
With the latest Star Trek film still doing very well in theatres, a new bit of information is coming on Star Trek’s past. Rod Roddenberry – son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry has secured over 500 hours of behind the scenes materials from various Star Trek incarnations. Yes, 500 hours.
The materials range from interviews and behind the scenes documentaries down to quick bumpers and tidbits recorded for various promotional purposes. All the footage comes from the 1980’s through the present so it contains materials from Star Trek: The Next Generation through Enterprise.
Roddenberry is planning on organizing the massive collection of footage into a useable form to be released on DVD and possibly Blu-ray in the near future through Roddenberry Productions. I’m sure Star Trek fans will want to know more when details emerge.

‘Star Trek’ screened in space
LOS ANGELES ñ “Star Trek” has been beamed aboard the International Space Station.
Paramount Pictures said they transferred director J.J. Abrams’ sci-fi franchise reboot to NASA’s Mission Control in Houston. The movie was uplinked to the space station on Thursday.
NASA astronaut Michael Barratt watched the film on a laptop Friday inside the Unity module.
The 50-year-old astronaut said he remembered “watching the original ‘Star Trek’ series and, like many of my NASA co-workers, was inspired by the idea of people from all nations coming together to explore space.”

‘Family Guy’ reunites ‘Trek’ crew
Science fiction and animated parody seem to go together like, uh, Captain Picard and Dr. Crusher.
OK, clumsy analogy. But seriously, what is it about sci-fi that makes it so ripe for mockery by animated comedies such as Family Guy?
“I think it’s easy to mock things that take themselves too seriously,” said David Goodman, the show-runner and co-executive producer of Family Guy. “Star Trek is both wonderful and pompous at the same time.”
Great point. And Goodman, by the way, is a self-confessed “hardcore Trekkie,” as is Family Guy creator and voiceover star Seth MacFarlane.
Anyway, in a new Family Guy episode titled Not All Dogs Go to Heaven, which airs Sunday on Global and Fox, the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation reunites in animated form.
“They all were very game,” Goodman said. “Many of them already had done the show (individually). Patrick Stewart (who played Captain Picard) is sort of in the family, because he has a recurring role on American Dad and he has done Family Guy more than once.
“It was not hard at all (to convince them). They were fans of the show. They couldn’t have been nicer or more game to spoof themselves. As a group, they could not have had a better sense of humour, which you don’t always find with actors. A lot of actors don’t like to play themselves, don’t like to spoof themselves, but this group is just the opposite.”
Star Trek: The Next Generation ran for seven seasons — longer than any other Star Trek series — from 1987 to 1994. But that’s quite a long time ago.
So, Goodman was asked, why parody TNG now?
“You could ask, why did we do a Back to the Future reference last week, when the movie is (24) years old?” replied Goodman, whose show has another Star Wars parody and a Tootsie spoof in the works, too.
“Seth and I are huge fans of Star Trek and we realized that although there had been plenty of episodes in episodic television that brought back the cast of the original series — in fact, I wrote one of them for Futurama — nobody had reunited The Next Generation cast. And The Next Generation was a hugely popular show in its day. I think they got like 10 or 12 million viewers a week, and I think we only get like eight million.
“We aren’t necessarily going to reference the most current show, although we do that (sometimes). Our stock in trade is our own memories of shows we watched when we were younger.”
In Not All Dogs Go to Heaven, Stewie (voiced by MacFarlane) builds a transporter and beams the cast of The Next Generation to his bedroom so they can spend a fun-filled day together in Quahog. The guest voices from TNG belong to Stewart, LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Wil Wheaton, Denise Crosby, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes.
“They’re all playing themselves (as opposed to their TNG characters), so we had fun playing with who they really are, and Stewie discovers what it’s like to hang out with them,” Goodman said. “It’s the Family Guy twist on your expectations, so I’m very pleased with the surprises in the episode.”
Goodman was asked what the funniest line of dialogue in the episode is. “To me the best line is what Stewie says to the (TNG) cast at the end of the episode,” Goodman said.
“I’m not going to give it away. But (Stewie) didn’t get to ask his question at the Star Trek convention, so he kidnaps all of them and has a little bit of a journey with them.
“His final words to them, I think, are very funny.” Can’t wait.

‘Star Trek’ pushed back to 2009
Paramount is pushing back the release of J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” from Dec. 25 to May 8, 2009, saying the pic’s gross potential is greater as a summer tentpole.
The move was part of a major reshuffling to the studio’s release calendar, as well as to DreamWorks’ release sked. A second key change: DreamWorks’ 2008 Ben Stiller summer comedy “Tropic Thunder” is moving from July 11 to Aug. 15.
That’s likely to mean that another film will take “Tropic’s” old spot on July 11, particularly since there is such a dearth of broad comedies in the May-July stretch.
Like Par, many of the majors are likely to revisit their release skeds in the wake of the writers’ strike as they try to balance out their 2008 and 2009 calendars.
“Star Trek” has no competition in its new slot — at least not so far, although it opens one week after 20th Century Fox bows “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and one week before Sony is slated to bow sequel “Angels and Demons.”
Paramount also dated two titles. Martin Scorsese’s Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer “Shutter Island” will be released Oct. 2, 2009.
An untitled comedy produced by Marlon and Shawn Wayans will be released on Feb. 9, 2009. Their brother Damon Wayans is directing from a script the three co-wrote with two other family members. Par is keeping the logline under wraps.
Here are the other release changes to Par’s sked:
– Eddie Murphy family pic “Nowhereland” is moving from Sept. 26, 2008, to June 12, 2009.
– Renee Zellweger horror-thriller “Case 39” is moving from Aug. 22, 2008, to April 10, 2009.
– David Fincher’s Brad Pitt starrer “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is moving from Nov. 26, 2008, to Dec. 19, 2008.
In addition to the new date for “Tropic Thunder,” DreamWorks and Par announced that Leonardo DiCaprio-Kate Winslet “Revolutionary Road” will be distributed by Par Vantage, and not the studio proper.

Shatner Fumes Over ‘Star Trek’ Snub
Actor William Shatner is furious producers of the new Star Trek movie failed to offer him a role. Shatner, who played Captain James Kirk in the original TV series and movies, is desperate for a part in the new version, directed by J.J. Abrams. And the 76-year-old is stunned he has not been offered a lead part in the upcoming film.
He tells TV’s Extra, “How could you not put one of the founding figures into a movie that was being resurrected? That doesn’t make good business sense to me! I’ve become even more popular than I was playing Captain Kirk. I’m good box office and I get publicityÖ But, they are going in a different direction and it’ll be a wonderful film.”
Shatner’s Star Trek sidekick Leonard Nimoy will be the only original cast member on board for the prequel – he’ll reprise his role as Mr. Spock in the film.

Canadian Greenwood to captain Enterprise in new Star Trek film
Canadian actor Bruce Greenwood is the latest team member to be joining the crew of the new Star Trek film, directed by J.J. Abrams.
Reports say the 51-year-old Greenwood will play Capt. Christopher Pike, the first commander of USS Enterprise. Actor Jeffrey Hunter originated the role in the unaired 1966 pilot of the series created by Gene Roddenberry.
Abrams (Lost, Mission: Impossible 3) has kept details of the film under wraps. Shooting is set to begin in November.
Greenwood’s addition comes just as Variety reported Friday that Winona Ryder has been brought on to play the mother of a young Spock.
The Quebec-born Greenwood was recently in the HBO surfing series John From Cincinnati and has appeared in numerous television shows and films in his 25-year career including the medical drama St. Elsewhere and movies such as I’m Not There, Being Julia, Double Jeopardy and I, Robot.
The newest instalment of the film franchise will follow James T. Kirk, Spock, engineer Scotty, Uhura and Sulu just after they graduate from Starfleet Academy.
Other stars who have signed on include Zachary Quinto of the TV series Heroes as a young Spock, British comic Simon Pegg as Scotty, John Cho as Sulu, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Anton Yelchin as a young Chekov and Chris Pine as the young Captain Kirk.
Eric Bana plays the villain Nero and Leonard Nimoy, the original Spock, is also on board.
There’s still no word about beaming up William Shatner to reprise his role as Kirk. Shatner recently complained that he hadn’t been invited to join the crew. Abrams has remained silent on the issue.

Shatner’s Kirk not aboard for new `Trek’
LOS ANGELES – The original Capt. Kirk is disheartened he won’t get to boldly go anywhere with his old pal Spock in the new “Star Trek” movie.
While Leonard Nimoy is reprising his role as the pointy-eared Vulcan in next year’s science-fiction flick, William Shatner is not on board as Kirk.
“I couldn’t believe it. I’m not in the movie at all. Leonard, God bless his heart, is in, but not me,” Shatner, 76, told The Associated Press on Thursday. “I thought, what a decision to make, since it obviously is a decision not to make use of the popularity I have to ensure the movie has good box office. It didn’t seem to be a wise business decision.”
Director J.J. Abrams announced last summer that Nimoy would reprise the role he originated opposite Shatner in the 1960s television show and played again in six big-screen adventures.
Abrams said Shatner probably would have a part in the film, which is due in theaters in December 2008. But while Shatner said he had a couple of meetings with Abrams, nothing came of it.
Abrams’ “Trek” film, whose plot is being kept under wraps by distributor Paramount, recounts an early adventure for the crew of the starship Enterprise, with Chris Pines as the young Kirk and Zachary Quinto as the young Spock.
The cast includes Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, Simon Pegg as engineer Scott, John Cho as helmsman Sulu, Zoe Saldana as communications officer Uhura and Anton Yelchin as navigator Chekov, roles respectively originated by DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig.
Past “Trek” films presented an obstacle to the revival of Shatner’s Kirk, who died at the end of 1994’s “Star Trek: Generations.”
But in science fiction, you can never truly say die. Spock was killed off in 1982’s “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan” then resurrected in 1984’s “Star Trek: The Search for Spock,” with Nimoy’s Vulcan living on to co-star in three more films, two episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and now Abrams’ new movie.
“I’ve got a lot to do,” said Shatner, whose current work includes the TV show “Boston Legal,” narration for the Christmas spoof “Stalking Santa” due on DVD on Nov. 6, and the prequel “Star Trek: Academy ó Collision Course,” a novel chronicling Kirk and Spock’s first meeting.
Shatner says of “Star Trek”: “Having been in on the creation of it, I was hoping to be in on the re-creation.”

Final frontier for Cho, Pegg
John Cho and Simon Pegg have boarded the Starship Enterprise.
Cho has been cast as Sulu, the Enterprise’s helmsman, while Pegg has signed on to play Scotty, the ship’s Scottish chief engineer, in J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek” feature for Paramount.
The “Trek” casting deals appear to be closing at warp speed this week, with Eric Bana signing on Wednesday to play the movie’s villain, Nero.
Already on board are Zoe Saldana as Uhura and Anton Yelchin as a young Chekov, the Russian-born navigator, as well as Zachary Quinto as a young Spock. Leonard Nimoy, who originated the role of Spock, is on board as well. Chris Pine is in talks to play the young Kirk.
The movie is expected to shoot from November-March.
Plot details are begin kept under wraps, but it is understood that the movie chronicles the early days of the Enterprise crew. The lead roles remaining to be cast are Christopher Pike, the first captain of the Enterprise, and Kirk’s parents.
Montgomery “Scotty” Scott was the ship’s third-in-command and was known for his problem-solving abilities in plot-critical situations. The role was originated by the late James Doohan.
Lt. Hikaru Sulu, known for his love of fencing, always was seen on deck piloting the ship next to Chekov. George Takei played the character in the 1960s TV series and the 1980s movies.
Cho starred as Harold in the cult hit “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.” He is reprising the role for the sequel. Cho is repped by Gersh, Principato/Young and attorney Alex Kohner.
Pegg, repped by CAA, starred in “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz.” He next toplines David Schwimmer’s comedy “Run, Fat Boy, Run.”