Every time Mr.Spock peered at that scanner by his station, I always found myself wondering what he was looking at. Well, this fan-edit by BlackMoonCGI lets us get our peek. It never occured to me that he’d spend all his time on Facebook, but that would probably explain the need for the added privacy. After all, it’s always worksafe if nobody else ever gets to look through your scanner. The video seems to be the first of what may become an ongoing series, so let’s hope for more of these hilarious edits in the future.
I never thought I’d need a Starfleet-issued bathrobe — that is, until I saw one. Fashioned after their Star Trek original series counterparts, these terrycloth robes come designed with fanboys in mind. For instance, “Command Gold” comes em captain’s rank properly embroidered on the sleeves, along with a command insignia on the left breast. “Sciences Blue” features a commander rank and sciences insignia. For now, those are the only colors available. If you’d rather hold out in hopes of picking up Scotty’s red, those should be available by April. The robes cost a hefty $49.99 via ThinkGeek, but something tells me it’s worth it.
If you’re a fan of the Trek and also happen to enjoy the occasional comic, you might want to check out GIT Corp’s Star Trek: The Complete Comic Book Collection. Produced back in 2008, this digital collection covers over 500 issues from 1967 through 2002. That said, the title might be a bit misleading — I’d hardly call it a definitive or complete collection — but it’s certainly a lot of content. To top it off, Amazon is currently offering the collection for 90% off its list price. Rather than paying the full $30, you can snag this collection for only $7. At that price, it’s practically stealing. Check the Amazon listing for a detailed list of comics included in this package.
Last Tuesday, Netflix reached a landmark deal with CBS to stream what no other service has streamed before — at least, without charging an arm and a leg for individual episodes. By now you’ve probably guessed it, but they’ve secured the license to stream every Star Trek series in their entirety, along with a whole catalog of classics like Cheers, Family Ties, and one of my personal favorites, The Twilight Zone. As far as Star Trek is concerned, this may be a first as I don’t recall any other service to date offering all six shows — that’s assuming they’ll be getting access to the animated series with this deal.
Posted by Michael Sacco on Feb 20, 2011 in Cinema, Star Trek
This is one of those stories that makes me wonder if things wouldn’t actually have been better if they had turned out as originally planned. Star Trek producer Rick Berman stated in a recent interview that the last film to star the Next Generation crew, Star Trek: Nemesis, was originally going to star a completely new cast of characters, but Berman fought to keep the TNG cast around for another film. At that point, Berman argues, Enterprise was just about to hit TV, so he felt like introducing yet another new Federation crew would’ve alienated series fans. Nemesis was not a great film by any means, its production was hampered with problems with both its script and cast, and it certainly didn’t make any money for Paramount, so one has to wonder if maybe a new cast and a fresh take on Trek would’ve made a better movie. Fun fact: Shinzon, Picard’s clone (shown above), was played by a young Tom Hardy, who you may know from Inception, and who’ll soon be playing Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. Read more…
Sure, one crew travels in Starfleet’s best ship, and the other travels in a phone booth, but they’re both credited for saving the universe several times over. And now, here they are, together at last: Kirk, Spock, the Doctor, and Amy Pond, ready to kick some Klingon tail! And Dalek tail, and Cyberman tail, and Romulan tail. What, only four evil races? Against these guys? The bad guys don’t stand a chance. Great work from Summerset over at DeviantArt. Read more…
The final piece of the current Trek miniseries, Typhon Pact, finally hit book stores late last month and I’ve been loving every minute of it. These novels have been dark, and full of gloom with just a glimmer of hope. It’s definitely not the Star Trek universe we’ve come to expect, but perhaps that’s a good thing. Some readers have expressed concern over the direction of the series. Specifically, that it doesn’t seem to know where it’s going — and it’s true, it doesn’t, but it’s that very same uncertainty it instills that makes me want more. Read more…
There’s nothing quite like owning your very own Tribble. They’re cute, adorable, and run on AA and AAA batteries — well, these ones do. Thankfully you’ll probably never have to worry about running into a Klingon, so I imagine they’ll probably stick to purring contently whenever you handle one. In addition to that, they won’t infest your starship, closet, or bed unless you purchase enough of them. Unlike their Original Series counterparts, they’re not born pregnant. As Kirk so poignantly put it, “Too much of anything, Lieutenant, even love, isn’t necessarily a good thing.” Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jan 30, 2011 in Star Trek
Before Star Trek became a worldwide phenomenon, it was just a pitch to NBC. We know that the show ended up being quite different from its original pilot, but even the pilot is pretty removed from Roddenberry’s recently-unearthed original pitch. Roddenberry describes the show as a “Wagon Train” analog in the future, starring Robert April, captain of the SS Yorktown. He describes Mr. Spock, April’s first mate, as having a reddish complexion, pointed ears, and an overall look “so satanic you might expect him to have a forked tail.” Most of the beloved characters are absent, and some character archetypes never made it into the show at all; Chekhov, for example, is replaced by hotshot South American navigator Jose Ortegas. In fact, Spock is really the only character who made it completely into the actual series mostly intact, though Phillip “Bones” Boyce kept his nickname even if his full name is quite different now. It’s a fascinating look into what might have been. Read more…
A few years back, Star Trek fans got together to produce a series of new episodes featuring the continued adventures of the USS Enterprise and their five year mission. Star Trek: New Voyages, as they called it, featured decent production values and less-than-spectacular acting, but I had to hand it to them for trying. Of course, that series took far too long for them to produce in a timely manner. Now, it would seem someone else has taken it upon themselves to produce yet another fan series, Star Trek: Phoenix — this time opting for an original approach. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Jan 1, 2011 in Star Trek
Star Trek Insurrection might not have been a great film, but it certainly had some intriguing behind-the-scenes development stories. In his book Fade In: The Making of Star Trek Insurrection, screenwriter Michael Piller details the original concepts for the film, one involving a fountain-of-youth story and Picard going through a Heart of Darkness-style “journey up the river” to take down an old Academy friend. The only problem? Rick Berman hated the initial concept, saying that Patrick Stewart would never go for a movie that “made him look old.” Its second revision was promptly shot down by Stewart himself, who said that it seemed like an overlong episode of TNG. Proving he was just as much a Trekkie as the fans, he directly cited several episodes that matched the script’s format. Brent Spiner even gave a laundry list of completely logical questions about the alien race featured in Piller’s original treatment that looks like a fan forum argument thread. Nice to know that the franchise was well-loved by its actors even if bad decisions were inevitably made (Nemesis, anyone?). Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 27, 2010 in Star Trek, Tech
Apple has just filed a patent to make their logo on mobile devices double as an antenna — but what surprised me about this concept is that it’s taken directly from the Starfleet communicator badge that’s been around since Star Trek: The Next Generation in the 80s. I’m frankly surprised that Apple’s competition isn’t mining old sci fi series for other product development ideas like visors for the blind and holodeck theme parks. To be fair Apple is in a unique position to exploit these ideas because they really do a great job of combining hardware and software to create “magical devices”. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 26, 2010 in Star Trek
Look William Shatner survived the long lean years when nobody cared about Star Trek, so he’s entitled to do whatever he likes (including cash in) — because he’s earned the fanboy seal of approval. But as for you Scott Bakula: Shame on you! You sully your Starfleet rank when you engage in a comedy series about middle aged men who are search of their lost youth. Damn it man you should be out there flying starships instead of hanging out with a collection of antiques! Scott I beg of you — get your command back before you become an antique…Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Dec 25, 2010 in Star Trek
Ah, Christmas. If you watched TV in the 90s, you probably remember Hallmark’s relentless commercials for new commemorative ornaments around this time of year. They had one for everything! I had a little light-up space shuttle ornament with opening loading bays, even. What space shuttles have to do with Christmas, I have no idea. Speaking of shuttles, though, check out this Christmas miracle — a video of Leonard Nimoy appearing in a 1992 Hallmark ad for a Star Trek shuttlecraft ornament. If you thought his trademark Vulcan greeting meant “live long and prosper,” well, you might learn a little something today. Read more…
Last month I mentioned the latest Trek mini-series to hit book shelves, Star Trek: Typhon Pact. Following its monthly release schedule, the second book in the series, Michael A. Martin’s Seize the Fire, continues the story arc focusing on the crew of the USS Titan, and their brush with the Gorn in an attempt to secure an ancient terraforming technology similar to Project Genesis, ala Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. While I doubt the book contains any poorly choreographed fight scenes involving rock wielding men in lizard suits — hey, it was awesome for its time — it definitely gives us a better understanding of the Gorn’s social hierarchy. I honestly didn’t even know they had one. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Nov 28, 2010 in Star Trek
Prior to the original Star Trek series, there were never any real science fiction hits on television, or any kind of science fiction television, for that matter. Gene Roddenberry, the show’s creator, seemed to to understand the unique position that he was in as possibly spearheading the mainstreaming of sci-fi, and that’s clearly indicated in this letter unearthed by Letters of Note. In it, Roddenberry instructs his sales agent, who was in charge of pitching the Trek pilot to networks, not to make concessions or adjustments that would compromise the creative vision of the show. It’s almost alarming how candid he is in this letter; as he puts it, “Maybe it’s catharsis. But I think it’s more.” It certainly was. He was successful, though in a roundabout way — NBC rejected the first pilot, “The Cage,” but immediately requested a second pilot. This was the famous “Where No Man Has Gone Before” that kicked off the series right. Read more…
It’s not really the 22nd century, and I doubt anyone would buy a degree in Xenolinguistics, but there’s no reason you can’t dress the part. Recently CBS Studios opened their very own Starfleet Academy store, which carries pretty much everything you can think of — from the ever-popular Red Shirt cologne, to vanity license plate frames. They have plenty of t-shirts with fictional institute’s logos, but given the season, I thought maybe you’d be more interested in a hoodie. Adorned with block lettering, this one simply reads Starfleet Academy MMCLXI — in case you’re still wondering, that’s 2161 — and comes in two colors, grey and navy blue. Personally, I’d choose the latter. The hoodie is probably trekkie enough to get noticed, but still cool enough to wear in a casual setting. Best of all, it’s slightly more fashionable than the fleece vests they’re selling. Currently, they’re going for roughly $49 each. Read more…
Filled with terrible acting and Trekkie humor, this web-series follows a family of Trekkers — I’d call them Trekkies, but the seemingly made a point to refer to themselves as Trekkers — who, in an attempt to prevent their Cardassian cosplaying neighbor from “shifting the balance of power in the quadrant,” plan a last minute trip to the annual Star Trek convention in Las Vegas. The series started back in late September and they’re already five episodes in with new episodes being released each week. It can be a little much at times, but they’ve peppered the scripts with enough references to keep you mildly entertained at the very least. It’s not quite as off the wall as Chad Vader, but it’s up there. If you’re interested, check out their YouTube channel or follow them of Facebook.
Back in 1987, Star Trek the Next Generation had just hit the air and Shatner had yet to release the flop that was Star Trek V. It was an exciting time for Trekkies and there plenty of companies lined up to take advantage of that ever-growing market. One such company was Temporal Graphics based out of Sutton, MA. In addition to producing a number of blue-prints for non-existant Star Trek vessles, they created posters, one of which is this beauty — “The Enterprise Legacy: Six Bold Centuries of Adventure.”
There are those of us out there who can’t get enough Star Trek. We’ve seen every episode and own every film — even the director’s cut of The Motion Picture, don’t ask why — and yet we crave more. With J.J. Abrams running the show, god only knows how long it’ll be until we see the next film hit the big screen. On top of that, many of us, myself included are still coming to terms with his alternate universe and what that means for the future of the series we’ve all known and loved. Thankfully, a place still exists where we can hide from the changes that have warped our precious universe — the novels. Read more…
I can’t help but feel that the guys over at ThinkGeek are traveling back in time and asking our teenage selves for ideas on how to create awesome products. Either that, or they’ve been actively reading our minds since we were kids and waiting for just the right moment to introduce these awesome inventions knowing full well that we’ll end up buying each every one of them. Case and point? This fantastic pizza cutter modeled after none other than Kirk’s original Enterprise.
Posted by Michael Sacco on Sep 16, 2010 in Star Trek
This new hoodie from Threadless is perfect for the closet geek — while zipped up, it’s just a normal hand with its palm out, but unzip it a bit, and you display Spock’s famous greeting to your kindred spirits. Very clever. Hopefully this design lives long and prospers — but if you’re like me, you won’t wait to buy it anyway. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Sep 15, 2010 in Horror, Star Trek
Quirk Books, the publishing group behind the smash hit Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (and an endless line of imitators), has released an amazing live-action trailer for their upcoming release Night of the Living Trekkies. It’s a zombie comedy romp with a twist — it takes place in a Star Trek convention, and all the zombies are costumed attendees. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Sep 13, 2010 in Star Trek
The Star Trek reboot was one of the biggest cinema hits of 2009, for good reason — it was a great movie. Director J.J. Abrams did a lot of things right, and he’d like to keep that pattern going for the film’s sequel, according to a new interview with SFX Magazine. Fans have been clamoring for Klingons to be featured in the second film of the rebooted series, and Abrams says he isn’t deaf to those pleas, but it’s a matter of seeing what works in the lens of this slightly different film universe. He said that adding something that’s popular with fans to the franchise for the sake of likeability isn’t necessarily the best idea, but if it can work, they’ll do it. He also told fans not to worry — the tone of the first film should be carried over to the second, in terms of humor interspersed with the drama. Good news there. No evidence of gritty sequelitis found — put that needle away, Bones. Read more…
