Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 28, 2012 in Star Trek
I’ve got to admit that I’ve never seen this shot before! It’s a photo from the set of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan featuring Ricardo Montalbán reacting to a small blow up doll that has the face of his Fantasy Island co-star Hervé Villechaize. For you younger Trek fans Fantasy Island was super popular in the 70s and from time to time veered into supernatural themes. Read more…
It might not be the same quality you’d expect from a major studio like Pixar, but this is worth checking out. Using a mix of CG and footage from the original film, YouTube user Mylex67 recently tried his hand at recreating some of the battle sequences from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. While it’s my instinct to complain about the lack of accuracy, he notes that the clip is not meant to be a shot for shot recreation, but rather just an alternate take on the battle in the Mutara nebula from the film. Needless to say, I’m a bit impressed, and I hope there’s more to come.
I just love the amazing amount of detail that has been put into this Star Trek The Wrath of Khan Communicator Replica. In addition to detailing the communicator features three play modules: voice clip mode, hail/call-back function and our all time favorite — Screaming Kirk Mode! This goodie will be out in November, but you can pre-order it here.
Upon seeing the above poster blown up to billboard size in NYC my fanboy reaction went something like this: Lieutenant Saavik what are you doing? You’re a Star Fleet officer AND you should be setting an example for the crew! Logic demands that you put down those high calorie items and not romp around in a reality weight loss show!!! Mind you that my reason for this is because twenty eight years later this is how I still see Kirstie Alley in my mind: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 10, 2009 in Star Trek
The Star Trek film this year owed so much to what Nicholas Meyer did with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. TrekMovie.com snagged this nice interview with Meyer but I admit that it’s a bit painful for me to watch. Frankly Meyer saved the franchise and his only reward was to be pushed aside — yet out of all of the Trek films and countless hours of television his is the only work that stands the test of time. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 4, 2009 in Star Trek
Shown above is a wonderful shirt clip of director Nicholas Meyer on directing the Spock death scene in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. Meyer points out that not being a Star Trek fan gave him the freedom to turn that film into art. I’d take a bit further than that myself: Coming to Star Trek with a fresh eye pretty much saved the franchise. And by killing Spock he bought the series back to life…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 29, 2009 in Star Trek
I’m sort of sad knowing that Shatner won’t be in the next Star Trek film, but I’ve been watching him take on the role of a talk show host and he’s pretty darn good at it. Look out Oprah you’ve got Admiral Kirk gunning for your job…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 26, 2009 in Star Trek
Permission to sing freely, sir? Granted! This is from a recent episode of Robot Chicken. As someone pointed out to me recently what made this film so good was that it didn’t depend on the Star Trek franchise as a crutch to the story.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 15, 2009 in Star Trek
The year is 1982 and Star Trek is all but finished — the first Star Trek movie was a disaster of bland storytelling and had no life at all. Yet Paramount decides to take a chance and allows Nicholas Meyer to direct Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. To be blunt about it: The movie was so damn good that not only did it turn the film series into a franchise — but it’s now over 25 years later and there have been four additional series and a new set of films in the works.
A huge part of that is due to the screen performance of Ricardo Montalbán (November 25, 1920 – January 14, 2009). Firstly in 1982 to all of America he was known as Mr. Roarke from Fantasy Island — and maybe lesser known for selling automobiles that featured “soft Corinthian leather”. Meyer could have cast anyone for the part, but the fanboy in him (and God bless him for doing it) made him go back to Montalbán. In fact it was Montalbán’s performance in the original 1967 episode of Space Seed that played a role in him coming up with the story in the first place. Read more…