  Archives for 2002 December 10, 2002
December 5, 2002
Source: www.cinescape.com
TREKWEB goes in depth with STAR TREK:
NEMESIS writer John Logan, who also penned GLADIATOR. Logan, a long-time fan of the series, stated, "I think that’s why
they hired me, because I’m a fan, I have a responsiveness to fans and what they want and how
they respond to things."
Logan discusses over 50 minutes of cut footage and says "Another 50 minutes of footage? As a
fan I think it’d be cool to watch that stuff, but the NEMESIS that we have is the NEMESIS I
stand behind and am very proud of."
JAM! SHOWBIZ runs a Calgary Sun story recounting a slippery moment
for X-MEN 2 star Patrick Stewart and co-stars
Halle Berry and Alan Cumming (amusingly
misidentified as Anna Paquin's Rogue instead of Nightcrawler). Shooting
recently wrapped with location work in Canada's snowy Kananaskis region, and one scene in
particular required the wheelchair-bound Professor Xavier (Stewart's character) to flee over
the snow.
Berry and Cumming were tapped to carry Stewart, and as Stewart tells it, "Halle and Alan were
dragging my legs through the snow. Suddenly Halle whispers in my ear that she's sinking in the
snow.
"The cameras are rolling as Halle's feet go from underneath her and she slides down, pulling
me with her, and Alan comes down next -- and the three of us are flat on our faces in the snow
with our heads side-by-side.
"Here we are, these superheroes, and we can't even keep our feet in the snow."
DARK HORIZONS sat down with Patrick
Stewart recently and runs a feature on the chat. Among other things, Stewart recalls the
decision to first take the role of Picard, the upcoming X-MEN 2 film,
and of course the nearly-out NEMESIS.
Stewart says, "When I was offered the role I was excited and then my agent met with me and it
became clear to him that I didn’t understand how pilots worked and the contracts of pilots
worked. I thought I was just signing on for the pilot and if I didn’t want to do anymore after
that I could just walk out."
ITV.COM presents an item concerning the impending opening of STAR TREK: THE ADVENTURE in London's Hyde Park on December 18. The $47
million exhibition will tour the world for five years after the opening, with stops set for the
U.S., Europe, and Australia.
The show's promoter, Martin Biallas, said, "We need about 250,000
people to break even. I think we will do 500,000 in London. We can comfortably accommodate
10,000 a day." December 1, 2002
Source: www.cinescape.com
The official STAR TREK Web site
covers the El Paso declaration of "Gene Roddenberry Day," October 4th,
in Roddenberry's hometown. Roddenberry, the creator of STAR TREK, was honored in a ceremony
dedicating the Gene Roddenbery Planetarium that drew many TREK veterans including TNG
and DS9's Michael Dorn, who portrays Worf.
The coverage includes links to local media stories concerning the event and a reproduction of
the proclamation itself.
Ever wonder who would win the ultimate fanboy slugfest between Captains Kirk and Picard? Well
franchise favorite Patrick Stewart, promoting his upcoming comic
book-turned-feature film sequel X-MEN 2 at a Vancouver press
conference, offered up the "final word" on the matter.
"I would like to make it absolutely clear that both Jean-Luc Picard and Professor Charles
Xavier could kick Captain Kirk's butt," joked the TREK actor, who also portrays the wheelchair
bound leader of the mutant superhero group The X-Men.
Stewart's remark concerning the butt-kicking came in the context of his comparing Xavier to
Picard.
"Charles Xavier needs more time. Jean-Luc has had 16 years, and therefore more opportunities.
With the same opportunities - any studio people who are here - perhaps we will see him develop
as richly as Jean-Luc."
Turning to X-MEN 2's director, Bryan Singer, Stewart asked him to
stand up and show what he was wearing. Singer revealed a tee-shirt promoting the upcoming STAR TREK: NEMESIS.
In an exclusive interview, William Shatner told CINESCAPE that he's been talking to Paramount
about a reworked DVD version of STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER, which
he directed.
"I may be doing a director’s cut," he says. "We have been talking to them about it, but we
don’t have a final response yet."
In particular, Shatner is interested in updating some of the film’s effects sequences.
"Well, yes, that’s part of what I want to do," he confirms. "But we don’t know if the money’s
there yet."
Publicity materials for WILLIAM SHATNER’S SPPLAT ATTACK suggest this
is the final chance to see Shatner bring the spirit of Captain Kirk back to life.
"I’m hangin’ up the cleats," the actor says.
OK, but what if ENTERPRISE, UPN’s current
STAR TREK show, asked Shatner to don the uniform once again?
"I would probably decline a chance to appear," Shatner responds firmly. Regarding ENTERPRISE,
he notes, "I haven’t seen it - heard it’s wonderful."
SCI FI Wire runs a piece with Patrick
Stewart's thoughts on the upcoming STAR TREK film STAR TREK: NEMESIS. Stewart discusses his role in X-MEN and X-MEN 2 director Bryan
Singer's cameo in the new film.
Stewart midwifed the appearance, letting TREK producer Rick Berman
know what a fan of the series Singer is, whereupon Berman suggested the cameo.
Stewart notes that "while we've been filming X-MEN [2]... continually he would say to me,
'What have you heard? Have you seen any of the movie? Do you think I'm going to be in it?' And
when I came back, having seen the final cut, I said, 'Bryan, you're actually in 28 frames of the
movie.' He couldn't be happier."
While discussing the upcoming tenth film in the STAR TREK franchise
this weekend with CINESCAPE, dubbed STAR TREK:
NEMESIS, executive producer and STAR TREK head honcho Rick
Berman let loose that he’s certain an eleventh film in the ever-popular series will be
made, regardless of how NEMESIS performs at the box office when it hits theaters on December
13th.
"I can tell you right now we’ll be making another film," Berman says. "There’s never been a
STAR TREK movie that wasn’t profitable for Paramount. One of the
things about STAR TREK movies is there’s no risk in making them because the studio knows if you
spend this much money on producing the film, you’re going to make that much money, or you might
make that much money. But there’s pretty much a window of the profitability of these films...
unlike non-STAR TREK films which could be total wrecks and not make a dime, or could take off
and make $200 million, there’s a risk involved. There’s very little risk involved in STAR TREK
films, so I think we’re a long way from seeing the end."
Paramount’s ad campaign for NEMESIS seems to imply that this might just be the last of the
NEXT GENERATION films, and while Berman is not ready to write off
Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-E yet, he is willing to discuss an idea that has
been thrown about over the years in TREK circles: the notion of combining characters from
various TREK incarnations to create a sort of smorgasbord cast for the next movie.
"As to whether the next film will include these [TNG] characters, or a combination of these
characters with other characters from other series, [or] new characters - that’s all yet to be
discussed. And that won’t happen [the] Saturday morning [after NEMESIS opens] hopefully, he
laughs. "They usually will give me a couple of months to breathe."
The executive producer stresses that "there’s been no discussion whatsoever about the next
film" on an official level, but he does believe that a mix of TREK characters is a viable option
for the feature film franchise. He even has some ideas about which characters might or might not
work in such a capacity.
"I don’t know if putting [DEEP SPACE NINE’s Captain] Sisko on the
screen is viable," he says. "But in the last film we put Robert Picardo
who plays The Doctor into the film, which was, I think, met with a lot of cheers, and in this
film we’ve got Kate Mulgrew doing a cameo. I think there are certain
characters from other [shows that would work]. Colm Meaney is a
remarkable actor. Rene Auberjonois is a remarkable actor. Jeri Ryan, I can’t imagine people would not love to see her on the big
screen. So there are possibilities of combining other actors. But then again, I’m not suggesting
that we’re going to do that. It’s just a possibility. It’s even a possibility that we would
include characters from ENTERPRISE even though they’re 200 years
earlier. Anything’s possible with STAR TREK."
Berman also has an idea of what STAR TREK 11 should be called.
"The next film will be STAR TREK 12 - [we’re] just keeping the even numbers," he jokes.
While promoting STAR TREK: NEMESIS this past weekend, the king of
STAR TREK, Rick Berman, revealed his feelings
on how the latest TV TREK, ENTERPRISE, is progressing in its second
season.
"I think in terms of the storylines and the way it’s being produced, I couldn’t be more
pleased," Berman told CINESCAPE. "I think we’re turning out some good
stuff. You get to a point where your sort of wonder, we’re up to the 600th episode - that’s not
including the original series. So you have to keep it fresh, and you know, even shows like
GUNSMOKE and I LOVE LUCY started to have a
decrease in their audience after a lot less than 600 episodes, so we’re trying to keep it
fresh."
While ENTERPRISE may not be scoring as high in the Nielsens as the UPN network would like, Berman is nonetheless satisfied with the state of
the show - and his increased involvement, along with partner Brannon
Braga, on the writing end of the TREK universe.
"Brannon and I have written about a third of the episodes and we work very well together.
We’ve been doing that both last season and this season. After writing "Broken Bow" together,
which was the pilot of the show, we realized that there’s a lot of very tentative elements to
writing together. We clicked and it worked beautifully and we literally spend, I would say, a
third to a half of our days, every single day, writing." October 6, 2002
Source: www.cinescape.com
ENTERPRISE Executive Producer Rick Berman
chats with SCI FI Wire on plot points upcoming episodes. In the
article, several episodes are touched on. In episode 7, "T'Pol takes Archer and Mayweather on a
secret mission to capture a dangerous Vulcan"; episode eight concerns a lost communicator;
"episode #9 is a day-in-the-life" story, and ten will concern a transporter accident and turn on
Ensign Hoshi Sato's actions.
ENTERPISE airs on Wednesdays on UPN, and has just entered its second season.
THE OFFICIAL 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
presented by Creation Entertainment was held this last weekend
(September 27th - 29th, 2002) in Pasadena, California. The stars of TNG: Patrick Stewart, Gates McFadden, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, Wil
Wheaton; and STAR TREK: NEMESIS author John
Logan were primarily on hand to promote the upcoming NEMESIS movie which will be released
on December 13th.
All of the actors did an incredible job of the promotion without revealing almost anything
new about the highly anticipated release of the 10th STAR TREK movie. But Stewart and Spiner did
drop one or two hints just to keep everyone speculating.
Stewart had seen NEMESIS 10 days before the convention. While it had not been color-corrected
and several of the special effects had yet to be included, he was very impressed with the
results.
"It has some very intense relationships in the film. But the one thing it has, which perhaps
we haven’t quite had since GENERATIONS, is emotion. It’s emotionally a
very, very intense movie and the last half an hour is quite a roller coaster ride. I warn you...
you should probably pick up one of those little pocket tissues to take with you. There is some
sad but wonderful stuff at the end of the movie."
"If this is to be the end of THE NEXT GENERATION, then it's a beautiful and appropriate way
to end it. I can think of no better climax to our fifteen-plus years than we should go out with
NEMESIS."
In a fan-pleasing slip, Brent Spiner gave part of one scene away as he told the audience,
"Spot [Data’s cat] will be in it briefly."
On September 27th - 29th, Pasadena, California hosted a massive STAR
TREK Convention to honor the 15th anniversary of the inception of STAR
TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Featured guests included John Logan,
screenwriter of the upcoming film STAR TREK: NEMESIS and Brent Spiner (Data). Spiner wowed fans with his hilarious imitation of
Patrick Stewart. Making his first ever convention appearance was actor James
Cromwell, seen as Dr. Zefram Cochrane, inventor of warp travel, in both STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT and ENTERPRISE, "Broken
Bow".
Also in attendance were Virginia Hey (FARSCAPE), Wil Wheaton (STAR TREK: THE NEXT
GENERATION), Brian Thompson (ST:TNG, ST: DS9, BUFFY, X-FILES),
Patrick Kilpatric (VOYAGER, ST:DS9, X-FILES,
DARK ANGEL, ROSWELL) and Brian Cousins (ST:TNG, SLIDERS, BABYLON 5), among others. September 19, 2002
Source: www.cinescape.com
A few things breaking on the STAR TREK: NEMESIS front. The first
being, as you can see for yourself, an image of the main Romulan ship set to do battle (or so we
hear) with the Enterprise. According to reports, this vessel will be commanded by Dina Meyer against the fair men and women of THE NEXT
GENERATION.
The second bit of news is the word exclusive, not-yet-seen footage of the film will be shown
on the season premiere of ENTERPRISE, set for September 18.
UPN has released the first shots of ENTERPRISE’s season two opener, "Shockwave Part 2."
The story, which picks up on September 18 with the epic tragedy that closed out season one’s
cliffhanger, examines the repercussions of a future time warrior who has erased all of known
STAR TREK history, and left Captain Archer (Scott
Bakula) marooned in a desolate future.
Word has it Jerry Goldsmith, who started composing for the STAR TREK series in the late 1970s with the first big screen adventure for
the franchise (that would be STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE), has
announced he’s completed work on his fifth TREK film.
The film, this December’s STAR TREK: NEMESIS (obviously), is the
third in a row for him, as he scored both STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT and
STAR TREK: INSURRECTION. This is the first time a composer has done
more than two TREK films in a row.
He also reports post-production is steaming along nicely under the direction of TREK newbie
Stuart Baird (who worked with Goldsmith on EXECUTIVE
DECISION). Word also has it from Paramount’s marketing department this will be the last
adventure for the NEXT GENERATION crew (as you may have seen from the trailer’s tagline) but
most involved have said if it’s financially successful, they expect to be back for another go
around.
In the waning years of STAR TREK: VOYAGER, Commander Chakotay
himself, Robert Beltran, could be counted on for interesting quotes
about his feelings for co-stars Kate Mulgrew, Jeri
Ryan and the quality (or what he saw as the lack thereof) of the fourth major STAR TREK show.
Well, more than a year after the show’s finale, he’s at it again. While talking up VOYAGER at
the recent FedCon in Germany, Beltran had a few things to say about
all the Mulgrew/Ryan/Beltran talk, and his feelings for the show.
"I like Kate [Mulgrew]" Beltran said. "She is a very strong willed person. However, there are
other strong willed people in the cast, including myself. So, did she do things I sometimes
didn't like? Yes. So did some of the other cast members. And I am sure they feel the same way
about me. Did I get angry with her at times? Yes I did and sure she got angry with me at times
too, but also the other cast members, so now that a year has past most of that is forgotten. I
don't remember those bad things that bothered me so much at that time. Now I just think of my
fellow cast members as good friends that I spent a lot of time with for seven years. And we are
still keeping contact with each other."
He also had a few things to say about how the franchise is progressing with ENTERPRISE and the upcoming STAR TREK: NEMESIS.
"I haven't seen ENTERPRISE," he said. "I tried watching it, but after having been on VOYAGER
for seven years I am just not interested. I am not interested in the STAR TREK movies either. I
am filled with it. I have already done that, I know what it is about. I know that there is going
to be a certain amount of shakes and bombings and the shields are going to go down to 20 percent
and the warp core is gonna bust and some aliens are gonna try to kill everybody and they will
make it through, so... what’s to see? I already know that. That’s for the fans. I am not a fan."
While STAR TREK: NEMESIS has been getting a lot of good buzz in
recent months from those who have seen early versions and read the script, the film has now
received its first bit of negative word.
Writing in the NEW YORK TIMES Stuart
Klawans has teed off on the film, and the STAR TREK franchise in
general. And for many fans, his words ring a little too true.
"Once again, the history of the future repeats itself," Klawans wrote in Sundays NYT. "Go
back in the series from the 24th century to the 23rd, substitute Klingons for Romulans and James
T. Kirk for Jean-Luc Picard, and you will discern the outlines of STAR TREK
VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY [in NEMESIS]. This duplication is not simply a matter of one
generation following another onto the bridge of the Enterprise. As true fans can tell you,
NEMESIS will seem new and yet vaguely familiar: the 10th film in a series that has five plots."
He also shot off these points about the creative... malaise maybe?... the film series has
been in from time to time:
"A megalomaniac tries to seize the power of life itself (STAR TREK II: THE
WRATH OF KHAN; STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER; STAR TREK VII: GENERATIONS; STAR TREK IX:
INSURRECTION).
"A senior officer of the Enterprise comes back from the dead (STAR TREK III:
THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK; STAR TREK VII: GENERATIONS), or a fate worse than death (STAR TREK VIII: FIRST CONTACT).
"The crew of the Enterprise goes back to an earlier century on Earth, to make sure that
history happens as it should (STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME; STAR TREK
VIII: FIRST CONTACT).
"A spacecraft threatens to destroy Earth, and we're to blame, either because our technology
is more advanced than our ethics (STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE) or
because we've trashed other species (STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME)."
Wrapping up, Klawnas said, "Poverty of narrative invention has nothing to do with predicting
the success or failure of any STAR TREK film. THE WRATH OF KHAN has more incident than the
others put together and is by common consent the best of the lot. But THE VOYAGE HOME also ranks
high, despite a story that can be fully retold in the listing in TV Guide. Like the original
television series, which put expansive ideals into rudimentary settings, THE VOYAGE HOME charmed
audiences by blending self-aware goofiness with outer-space liberalism."
Ouch.
The official STAR TREK website revealed where fans will be able to
watch the first full trailer for what is being billed as the final NEXT
GENERATION film, STAR TREK: NEMESIS. According to the Paramount Pictures powers that be, the trailer will be premiered on the
season premiere of ENTERPRISE, Wednesday, September 18th, then it will
hit theaters the following Friday.
Finally, it will be released online Monday, September 23 at 10 in the morning, Pacific time.
Now to be more specific about the theater release, the site is announcing the NEMESIS preview
will be attached to THE FOUR FEATHERS.
Now you know. September 1, 2002
Source: www.cinescape.com
Jonathan Frakes, a.k.a. Commander William Riker of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION fame, is talking again about the new film,
STAR TREK: NEMESIS, and he says he’d be fine if it was the final TNG
film.
"I can’t think of anything I still want to do as Riker," he told the UK’s STAR TREK MONTHLY. "I get a leg over with Marina
[Sirtis] in NEMESIS and something big happens at the end of the film. So if it’s really
all over, I’ve had a full meal, and if it’s not, I’ll be happy to show up and do what they ask
me."
That being said, he doesn’t expect this to be the last TNG film, no matter what Paramount’s PR department is hinting.
"I really don’t think this is going to be the last one," Frakes continued. "I’m pretty sure
that it’s going to make a lot of money, and if it does, someone will ask us all to take a pay
cut and we’ll go off and make another one."
Back in the late ’60s a company named AMT practically invented the
sci-fi model kit industry when they launched a kit based on the U.S.S. Enterprise from NBC’s
STAR TREK. The Enterprise kit went on to become one of the biggest
selling model kits in history and launched an entire series of STAR TREK models done by AMT
(which later became AMT/ERTL). AMT/ERTL held the TREK license for several decades before giving
it up after releasing kits from the movie STAR TREK: INSURRECTION, and
since then no one has had the rights to produce new STAR TREK kits, despite the obvious
opportunity of a new TREK TV series in the form of UPN's ENTERPRISE.
Now Polar Lights, which has cornered the market on sci-fi kits
with their Aurora reissues and new Godzilla and FORBIDDEN PLANET models, has announced their intention to make new STAR TREK
kits starting in 2003. The first kit will be a new, 11" model of the classic STAR TREK
Enterprise which will include optional parts to build the earlier "pilot" versions of the ship
as well as the more familiar "production" model that was seen through most of the show's
three-year run. Following that kit will be a large, two-foot long model of the NX-01 from
ENTERPRISE. The success of these first two releases could lead to a wide variety of new STAR
TREK spaceship models in varying sizes. Look for an official announcement from Polar Lights
soon. August 24, 2002
Source: www.cinescape.com
In a recent interview, STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION’s Patrick Stewart is talking again about the possibility STAR
TREK: NEMESIS could be the last of TNG’s adventures. After all, the studio’s promotions
explicitly say it’s the last adventure, so it must be thus, right? Right?
"If this is the end of THE NEXT GENERATION, it's actually a beautiful and appropriate
ending," Stewart said, responding to the tagline of the film and the general this-is-it buzz
coming from the production. "There is complete closure on THE NEXT GENERATION in this movie."
Stewart also said there would be many cameos from both STAR TREK: DEEP
SPACE NINE and STAR TREK: VOYAGER.
By the way, the film has just been rated by the MPAA at PG-13.
Now that the last season of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION is slated
for a DVD boxed set later this year, many fans are eyeing the anticipated release of one of
TREK's most underrated shows: STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE.
According to Digital Bits, Paramount Home Video is planning a 2003 debut for the series, with the
release mirroring that of TNG (i.e. get them out fast). If you’ll recall, when Paramount decided
to go with the season-per-boxed-set treatment for TNG, they got all seasons out in one year:
this one. Seasons six and seven are coming out in December.
Specifics are not yet available, but if DS9 gets going next year, expect a lot of goodies,
fast.
August 21, 2002
Source: www.cinescape.com
Wil Wheaton, Wesley Crusher himself, coming back to STAR TREK last year for the first time since he left STAR
TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION in the fourth season to film an appearance for this December’s
STAR TREK: NEMESIS, has confirmed his scene has been cut.
Wheaton posted on his official site Rick Berman called to say the
scene was gone (if you’re hiding from spoilers, leave now).
The scene, connected to the wedding of Commander Riker and Counselor Troi, was axed as part
of the process director Stuart Baird had to go through to bring the
film down from a nearly three hour rough cut. The film, according to what Berman told Wheton,
had to lose 48 minutes.
It isn’t known if the scene will be included in the extras on the NEMESIS DVD. If past
history is any indication, don’t count on it. Paramount Home Video is
notoriously skimpy with TREK extras.
While speaking to fans at Las Vegas’ Creation Entertainment
convention, ENTERPRISE co-creator/co-executive producer Brannon Braga looked ahead to season two, and assured fans (again) the show
would hue close to the established history of the STAR TREK universe.
He also gave some cryptic comments about the backbone mythology of ENTERPRISE, the temporal
cold war.
"We'll [continue it] as long as it's fresh," Braga said, hinting Daniels, the time traveler
who escorted Captain Archer (Scott Backula) to the 31st century at the end of season one might
not what fans believe him, or it, to be. "Daniels isn't completely human. He's not really what
he seems."
July 28, 2002
Source: www.cinescape.com
Some more info is coming out about the needlessly delayed special edition of STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK.
If you’ll remember, Paramount Home Video released all the TREK
films in almost reverse order, and only when they released the first film did they make it the
first special edition in the series. Now, they’re re-releasing the films as special editions.
Why, we don’t know. But we are glad one of the underrated of the series, SEARCH FOR SPOCK, is
going to get its big deal release October 8.
What extras can fans expect from the release? TrekWeb has a list of the goodies, and here it
is:
· A documentary on terraforming (you'll recall that the movie involves the GENESIS Planet)
and the prime directive with NASA interviews Weeks after Brannon Braga was quoted saying the Romulans may or may
not show up on ENTERPRISE during the run of the show, Dominic Keating (who plays Malcolm Reed) is talking about an episode which
finds the cousins of the Vulcans showing up on the show.
"We’re shooting it right now," Keating revealed in an interview with TREKWEB. "It’s a great episode, it really bonds Captain Archer and Malcolm
Reed, we have a lot of scenes together. It’s kind of ‘Shuttlepod One’ but with the captain
outside rather [than trapped together with Reed]. I haven’t seen the sets, [but] it’s a great
episode, you’re going to like it!"
Patrick Stewart is teasing heavily for STAR TREK:
NEMESIS, even though it’s months away from release.
How high is he on the film, which is being billed as the final adventure for the NEXT
GENERATION crew?
"I think it's possible that there might be more to anticipate and to be excited about with
NEMESIS than with any of our previous movies, including everybody's favorite, FIRST CONTACT,"
Stewart said. "I think we've got the mix right, in terms of a strong story... There are two
storylines running side by side, interconnecting at different times," he continues. "We have a
very strong action base as well for this, which means that the dialogue scenes are broken up
with really quite effective sequences of action. It has romance in it - in fact, it's probably
the sexiest movie we've done in some respects, although unfortunately none of this involves me.
It has a psychological aspect to it too, which is interesting and potent. And there are
surprises - the kind of surprises that, while we were shooting it, we were licking our chops
with glee at the thought of these things that were going to surprise people." July 19, 2002
Source: www.cinescape.com
Brannon Braga is talking again about the eternal bane of STAR TREK creators. Or, it has been since the advent of the Internet. Leaks,
and rumors.
In an interview with Ohio’s Beacon Journal, Braga talked about how
frustrated he was to find accurate details of next fall’s wrap-up episode to ENTERPRISE’s season one cliffhanger on the web.
"We get criticisms of our scripts the day they go out (to show staff)," Braga said. "On the
one hand, you're really disappointed that the entire plot line of part two of the cliffhanger
can be seen (online) right now. Generally speaking, the fans are incredibly articulate and
passionate, and it's worth paying attention to. It's the equivalent of getting fan mail in some
ways -- except it's much more candid because they don't know you're reading. There's a lot of
expletives and insults. But if you can get through that, there is a lot of very valuable
feedback."
He also revealed the first big time-travel episode of the series will have the crew coming
back to the 1950s launch of the Sputnik satellite.
"It's going to turn out that the Vulcans were keeping an eye on Sputnik when it got
launched," Braga said. "[The Vulcans] have a little accident and have to land in western
Pennsylvania.... It's going to turn out that Zefram Cochrane was not the first human to make
contact with Vulcans."
Brannon Braga is talking up ENTERPRISE in
an interview in the new issue of STAR TREK: COMMUNICATOR. Of course,
he’s got a few things to say for hint-rabid TREK fans.
"We thought about revealing [Future Guy] in the [first-season] finale, but it just seemed too
soon and it didn't service the story. For all we know, he'll be revealed the next time we do a
Temporal Cold War story," Braga said, about the series’ main villain. He also revealed, unlike
past TREK shows, the main arc of the Temporal Cold War, the main thread story of the series, has
already been sketched out. He also revealed the series will see the Federation founded.
"We've mapped out a great deal of the arc, and want to make sure that every time we do it,
you learn something very tantalizing," Braga said. "Because so much of the show’s concept is
rooted in STAR TREK’s history, we thought it would add a little spice to create a villain who
doesn’t want to see humans succeed in space. It was just too cool a premise to pass up."
He also made clear, despite fans love Romulans, they may never show up on ENTERPRISE.
"We have major continuity issues with them," Braga said. "We would very much like to do
Romulans, but a) we don't know quite how yet, staying consistent with the original series, and
b) since the new movie deals with Romulans, we want to give them some breathing room. We'll do
them eventually, but not right away."
Despite the fact December’s STAR TREK: NEMESIS is being billed as the
‘final adventure’ for the NEXT GENERATION crew, another member of Paramount
Pictures’ executive brain-trust is talking up the strength of the franchise.
In an interview with the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, chief operating
officer and vice chairman of the studio Rob Friedman said, "The new TV
show ENTERPRISE is strong, video sales are strong, and the movies are
performing in the $80 million to $100 million range."
Add to that new quotes from TREK producer Rick Berman, very high on
the film. "I don't want to start talking in ridiculous superlatives, but fans are going to get
one hell of a movie," Berman said. "There are immense space battles and a good deal of humor,
but there's also some extremely terrifying elements to the story."
He was also very satisfied with Tom Hardy, NEMESIS’s chief villain.
"He'll go down as perhaps the greatest STAR TREK villain ever, right up there with Ricardo Montalban's Khan."
We’ll see.
The official teaser poster for December 13th’s STAR TREK: NEMESIS
has hit theaters around the country, and it confirms yet again Paramount is thinking this may well be the last film in the NEXT GENERATION
feature series.
The tag line reads, "A generation’s final journey begins." Here’s hoping it’s just marketing
hype.
The official STAR TREK website has revealed the return date of ENTERPRISE for season two.
The wrap up of season one’s cliffhanger "Shockwave Part 1," mysteriously called "Shockwave
Part 2" will hit UPN at 8 p.m. on September 18. While that will be
the first episode aired, the first episode shot for next season is actually "Carbon Creek,"
though the official synopsis for that entry is yet unknown.
As good as things look now for Patrick Stewart in STAR TREK: NEMESIS (if you’ve seen the new trailer, you know what we mean) it
almost didn’t happen.
In an interview with the UK magazine EMPIRE, Jean-Luc Picard
himself, Patrick Stewart, revealed he almost rejected the role in the tenth TREK film.
"I was a breath away from saying this is not worth the time. An absolute breath away,"
Stewart said. "They [Paramount Pictures] were negotiating so
uncompromisingly that it had reached the point where humiliation was the only way of settling
this and I wasn't prepared to do that. But luckily the nice thing for actors is that you don't
actually have to walk into those rooms yourself, and you don't have to answer the phone when
they call. It's a very curious place, Hollywood, in that in the space of the day, someone's
attitude can shift from downright brutality to treating you as a member of the family."
July 4, 2002
The official Star Trek: Nemesis teaser trailer went online June
26th, after its Entertainment Tonight broadcast. The official website
also opened in conjunction with the premiere of the trailer. The site can be reached at Star Trek: Nemesis. June 19, 2002
Source: www.cinescape.com
It looks like all that talk about STAR TREK: NEMESIS being the last
big screen adventure for the NEXT GENERATION was just that.
At least, that’s the word from Picard himself, Patrick Stewart.
"There's been a lot of gossip about this being the last Next Generation film." Stewart said.
"Those conversations are only happening in the fan community. As far as the studio is concerned,
and our executive producer is concerned, and indeed as far as all of us are concerned, though we
all have our own opinions and feelings, there is nothing official at all about it being the
last."
He added, "Although, this would be a very appropriate way to take our leave of STAR TREK.
Everything about the ending of this movie has a sense of closure about it, but there is also a
huge opportunity for a sequel to this movie just sitting there, should it be taken up. And my
feeling is that with Paramount it will totally be a matter of
profits. If this film does really well, there will be another one. And that will continue, so
long as they do well. The first time one does badly then, 'Clang!' We shall be put out to
graze."
ENTERPRISE’s T’Pol, Jolene Blalock, is
thanking fans for the latest highpoint in this, her first year on the air as STAR TREK’s most
arresting Vulcan.
Blalock won best supporting actress in a TV show at the 28th annual Saturn
Awards, as well as the female Face of the Future Award, an award voted on by the readers
of CINESCAPE magazine.
"It is all about the fans, isn’t it?" she said, thanking those who voted for her victory. "I
got one award from the industry and one from the fans, which is both sides of this kind of work.
I am very, very, very grateful. I was so worried about this character. The basis of this
character was created by Leonard Nimoy and Gene
Roddenbery, so who am I? I’m just some girl from San Diego. How can I come in and have
anything to say? I wasn’t sure that people would accept it... but this proves that they have. So
I’m more than content."
The winner of Cinescape's Male Face of the Future award was BUFFY THE
VAMPIRE SLAYER's James Marsters, who did not attend.
In a quick, exclusive interview with CINESCAPE magazine at the
28th annual Saturn Awards, Paramount Pictures president Sherry Lansing gave us another indication STAR TREK:
NEMESIS would not be the final film for the cast of THE NEXT GENERATION.
Why? Well, while she can be expected to laud her own company’s movies, when a studio head
talks about how people have loved a series of films for years, it’s an indication the latest
entry might not be so hot. But when they say things like this, it’s an indication things could
be very good for TREK fans.
"We think it’s arguably the best one we’ve seen yet," Lansing said. "And that’s saying a lot.
It’s spectacular. I just saw the first cut of it. The script is fabulous, by John Logan and Stuart Baird did an amazing job of
directing it. We have the amazing actors back and I’m very excited."
Source: www.startrek.com
In what could be another small step toward the eventual fulfillment of a Star Trek-inspired technology, Australian scientists have successfully
"teleported" a laser beam of light from one spot to another in a split second.
A team of physicists at the Australian National University (ANU)
announced Monday they had successfully disembodied an encoded laser beam in one location and
rebuilt it in a different spot about one meter away in the blink of an eye.
Project leader Dr. Ping Koy Lam said there is a close resemblance
between what his team had achieved and the technology of "bio-transport" which the current Trek
series Enterprise postulates will be nearly commonplace in 150 years.
Although the process perfected by the Down Under team can only teleport photons, Lam said he
believes the process, called "quantum teleportation," will soon be used on solid matter. "My
prediction is...it will probably be done by someone in the next three to five years, that is the
teleportation of a single atom," said Lam.
The hitch is, humans are made up of approximately 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
atoms. "In theory there is nothing stopping us from doing it (beaming people from place to
place), but the complexity of the problem is so huge that no one is thinking seriously about it
at the moment," Lam said at a news conference.
The most immediate application of this breakthrough will be a new generation of super-fast
"quantum computers" and other methods of encrypting information.
ANU team member Warwick Bowen said they first successfully
teleported a laser beam on May 23 to their great surprise, and repeated the success time after
time in following weeks using their small-car-sized transporter, ironing out certain glitches.
"Even in Star Trek they realize there are problems with teleportation," Bowen told the news
conference.
Who said nothing ever happens in Oklahoma? Star Trek fans attending
Starbase 21's Trek Expo in Tulsa this weekend will be getting a
special bonus... the very first peek at the teaser trailer and Web site for "Star Trek: Nemesis."
Scheduled to be shown in Tulsa this Saturday, June 22, the actual trailer will receive
broadcast and online premieres shortly before it hits theatres in time for the July 4th holiday
weekend.
Also at the Trek Expo will be an advance look at the "Star Trek: Nemesis" Web site, which
will be launched in conjunction with the trailer's online premiere. Sample pages from the site
will be projected onto two large screens to give fans a taste of what's to come.
More details to follow. Remember, "Star Trek: Nemesis" is scheduled to open in movie theaters
December 13. May 25, 2002
Source: www.cinescape.com
Jonathan Frakes is talking about his latest venture into the world
of high profile genre television. With ROSWELL now off the air, Frakes’
eye is now on the new UPN entry, a remade TWILIGHT
ZONE.
Frakes, who has shifted heavily into directing later in his career, did work both on ROSWELL
(which he helped to produce) and directed the pilot of ZONE, staring Jeremy
Piven.
"It starts off with a one-hour pilot that I directed," Frakes told SCIFI
WIRE. "I'm so proud of it. It's an adult television show. It has that great TWILIGHT ZONE
cautionary-tale tone. [His character] is hit by lightning and he dies twice, essentially. Piven
really went for it. He's never had a part like this. Then we've got Forest
Whitaker as the host. The objective there was to get someone who does not remind you at
all of Rod Serling and yet brings what Forest does, which is this
promise of mystery and intelligence. So I have really high hopes for the show."
Source: www.cinescape.com
With the first season of ENTERPRISE coming to an end tonight,
creators Rick Berman and are
talking about their famous working relationship, and launching the fifth STAR TREK series, and
the upcoming STAR TREK: NEMESIS.
"I think we are in extraordinary shape," Berman said in an interview with TV GUIDE. "ENTERPRISE is right on target and a strong success for UPN, and there is great electricity about the movie. The footage - the
dailies - look more like a Ridley Scott film or a John Woo film than a classic TREK movie. I think - contrary to rumors - that
this is very, very likely not going to be the last movie. If this one does well as I believe it
will, it will be a mere matter of weeks - make that days - before Paramount comes to me and says 'So, when are we going to get to work on
number 11?'"
Braga, for his part, talked about how he and Berman are more into ENTERPRISE than they have
been on the other shows for some time now.
"I think I speak for us when I say that we have more of a passion for this show than for the
others," Braga said. "I'm always looking for ways to turn a story on its ear, to shake up the
franchise. I have been accused of being iconoclastic, of not respecting the franchise, but
nothing could be further from the truth. I don't think a week, even a day, goes by when we don't
stop and say we have to keep in mind what STAR TREK is all about and not to stray too far."
Source: www.cinescape.com
While updating DEAD ZONE fans on the progress of the TV show
adaptation of Stephen King’s classic tale of psychic adventure, Michael Piller said it’s starting out stronger than any TV show he’s ever
worked on.
And given the fact Piller worked on genre icons from STAR TREK: THE NEXT
GENERATION, DEEP SPACE NINE, VOYAGER,
as well as MAX HEADROOM and THE TWILIGHT ZONE,
that’s worth considering.
In a posting on the show’s official site, in which he took a playful swipe at CINESCAPE’s own
columnist Mark A. Altman, Piller said, "The first eight episodes of
DEAD ZONE are as good as any eight shows in a row I've ever been involved with in this business.
It usually takes an entire season for a series to find its way. On the STAR TREK series, for
reasons I can't entirely explain, it always seemed to take two years to get solid creative
footing (although I happen to believe that the second season of VOYAGER did some classic TREK,
my friend Mark Altman would disagree)."
Looks like we’ll all see when ZONE debuts June 16 on the USA Network.
Source: www.cinescape.com
It looks like the first real footage from STAR TREK: NEMESIS won’t
be hitting fan eyes via the web or a trailer in theaters, but a disc at the Los Angeles
Electronic Entertainment Exposition.
Known better simply as E3, the gathering is a chance for technology, video game and
entertainment companies to make big announcements about upcoming projects, roll out new gear,
and in the case of Paramount Pictures, give away CD-ROMs with the
first glimpes of NEMESIS.
According to the official TREK site, they will be handing out free CDs with "NEMESIS
material." That could mean a trailer, or something else.
The announcement also included the first firm release date from an official source: December
13. For the full info, click on the source link above.
May 18, 2002
Source: www.cinescape.com
In his usual hyping interview carried in the latest issue of STAR TREK
COMMUNICATOR, Rick Berman said the new film, STAR TREK: NEMESIS, could be ready for release as soon as Labor Day.
"On previous movies, there was no way they were ready to be released before Thanksgiving or
Christmas but this one could be released earlier," Berman said. "As to exactly when it will be
released with regards to other big movies... the distribution people at Paramount are discussing
that over the next couple of months."
Until now, the release of the film has been variously, and unofficially, set in December. As
of now, the only official word from Paramount is STAR TREK: NEMESIS is set for release in the
fall.
Source: www.startrek.com
For the second time in a year, James Doohan, better known as
Montgomery Scott, or "Scotty" from the original STAR TREK, has been
admitted to the hospital with pneumonia.
Doohan, 82, is said to be recovering and is expected to return home soon to his wife and two
year old daughter.
Source: www.startrek.com
05.10.02 Khan Director's Edition on DVD
In addition to the expanded 116-minute cut of the film by director Nicholas
Meyer, the two-disc DVD set is packed with extras covering every conceivable aspect of
the film. Contents are as follows:
Disc 1: Includes the expanded cut of the film, commentary by Meyer and text commentary by
Trek encyclopedia co-author Michael Okuda.
Disc 2: Features the theatrical trailer, storyboard archives, and a wealth of bonus material:
- The Captain's Log: All-new interviews with Meyer, stars William
Shatner ("James T. Kirk"), Leonard Nimoy ("Spock"), Ricardo Montalban ("Khan Noonien Singh") and writer/executive producer Harve Bennett.
- Designing Khan: Features comparisons of Star Trek I and Star Trek II. Includes interviews
with Meyer, Bennett, graphic designer Lee Cole, costume designer Robert Fletcher, production designer Joe Jennings,
and more.
- The Visual Effects of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan": Highlights the ILM visual effects
designers.
- Original interviews from 1982: Featuring Shatner, Nimoy, Montalban and DeForest Kelley ("Leonard H. McCoy").
- The Star Trek Universe - A Novel Approach by Authors Julia Ecklar
and Greg Cox: Interviews with Trek novelists Ecklar ("The Kobayashi Maru") and Cox ("The Eugenics Wars: The Rise
and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh").
The DVD of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - The Director's Edition" is presented in
widescreen format enhanced for 16:9 televisions. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital
English 5.1, English Dolby surround and French stereo. The DVD is subtitled and close-captioned.
The DVD's list price is $24.99 in the U.S. and C$32.99 in Canada.
It is rated PG in the U.S. by the Motion Picture Association of America for violence and
language and PG in Canada. It is encoded with the Macrovision™ AntiCopy process.
Source: www.cinescape.com
Paramount Pictures has begun cracking down on fan sales at STAR TREK convention gatherings, and even sent a lawyer with cops to close
down some venders in Cleveland.
According to a report on TrekWeb, Paramount sent an attorney
flanked by Cleveland police officers to the fan gathering Vulkon,
where the Paramount powers confiscated unlicensed STAR TREK merchandise.
While Paramount has been more open than other franchise studios in the past with helping fans
show their love for the series they love, this marks a new, tougher stance when it comes to
selling of STAR TREK memorabilia and products.
And counter to rumors emanating from the gathering after its April 27th incident, no fans were
forced to give up items they’d already purchased or had on hand but were not selling.
Click on the source link above for TrekWeb’s full story.
April 27, 2002
Source: www.cinescape.com
Recently the biggest names in STAR TREK gathered in Pasadena,
California to glory and gather in the splendor that is the biggest franchise in modern science
fiction: STAR TREK Grand Slam 2002.
While it was impossible to see everything and attend all of the guest stars appearances,
CINESCAPE’s own Anne Moore, Sue Schneider and Steven Klotz did their best, and
brought us the details. This week, we’re bringing them to you.
Check back every day for info and star pictures on everything from ENTERPRISE, STAR TREK: NEMESIS, to talk of DEEP SPACE NINE and hopes for a big screen adventure of their own, and more.
Today we touch on more of the ENTERPRISE quotes generated at the Slam, with John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox), Lt. Ryan, Lawrence
Monson, and ENTERPRISE co-creator/executive producer Brannon
Braga.
Braga was full of teases on what fans can expect from ENTERPRISE developments to come, saying
this about the temporal cold war and this season’s final cliff-hanging episode: "The final
episode will deal a lot with that, as will the first episode of next year and you’ll learn a lot
more about it."
Billingsley talked about who should play his 3 Denobulan wives.
"My scheme is to have her (Bonnie, his real wife) play all three of my wives on the show,
completely interchangeable," Billingsley said. "In fact, all Denobulans look like me and her. So
it makes for much confusion amongst the rest of the crew, but we all have very distinctive
personalities."
We’ll see. Finally, Monson showed up to talk about his recurring role as First Lt. Ryan (seen
in "Fortunate Son")
"He’s very much on holding on to the ways of the old," Monson said about Ryan. "He’s like the
blue collar of space. We’re like the cowboys of space. As America sort of developed and became
more technological, which is exactly what is happening with ENTERPRISE... like with the higher
warp speed. He wants to stay at the slower pace. He says, ‘If you go so fast you miss the joy of
the journey.’ There is something really deep about what the guy says and because as we do
advance there are advantages to that, but there also great disadvantages. We do lose out on a
lot. It’s an interesting conflict."
Today we hit on some of the ENTERPRISE news from the Slam, with
James Horan, the "Future Guy" seen in the pilot, and ENTERPRISE
co-creator/co-executive producer Brannon Braga, on when fans can expect
to see Romulans show up in the prequel series.
"Well I don't know much about the mystery man from the future, except that he's a mystery man
from the future," Horan said of his role. "Kinda sounds like a bad guy, especially from the
latest script I got, the cliffhanger final episode of the first season. I'm also coming back for
the beginning of the second season, so maybe more will be revealed about him then. Hey, I'm
hoping they stretch this out, and I become the Q of ENTERPRISE. The fans are telling me they
speculate that he's a Romulan, because the Romulans were involved with time travel at one, uh,
time or another. It's so confusing. So, that's all I know; I'm glad to be working, and pleased
to be a part of this new series."
Braga, for his part, cooled down talk of Romulans on ENTERPRISE... for now.
"I don’t think you’re going to be seeing Romulans this season," Braga said. "In the Original
Series, it was established that no one had actually see the Romulans. So, it’s tricky, because
you want to see them. You don’t want to see just a bunch of ships and not know what’s going on.
But we’re thinking about ways we might do it."
Today we touch on the news of the new big screen TREK adventure, NEMESIS, currently slated to hit screens by year’s end.
Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher of THE NEXT
GENERATION) opened the convention in the main auditorium. She was an immediate hit,
answering the most asked question of the entire con, "What can you tell us about the new STAR
TREK movie NEMESIS?" Even though her answer was short and diplomatic, it was a perfect tease for
fans, "I really think it [NEMESIS] is going to be great. For me, it’s the most enjoyable of the
STAR TREK films I’ve done so far."
VOYAGER’s own captain, Kate Mulgrew talked
about her "don’t blink" cameo in NEMESIS.
"I’m in it," she confirmed for the crowd, "I’m telling that old sod [Picard] what to do and
how to do it. It was so much fun bossing Captain Picard around."
Also on hand over the days of the Slam were Jonathan Frakes, who
arrived to promote his new movie CLOCKSTOPPERS and tease the
audience with more NEMESIS details. He also confirmed the rumors of a wedding between Commander
Riker and Deanna Troi. The rest of his NEMESIS news, "Wesley Crusher not only returns, he
crashes the wedding. And you know who else is there? Whoopi." But when Frakes was asked about
their honeymoon, he responded as a true officer and a gentleman should, and refused to discuss
it.
Wesley himself, Wil Wheaton, was also on hand to talk about the joy
and bane of TREK performers, the Internet, his own site, and some of the misconceptions about
him.
"I felt there was this great misconception about me," he said. "I wanted an opportunity to
speak up for myself. That’s who I am. What you see is what you get. People say they kind of feel
that they know me by reading my Web site. That’s why I wanted to do that. I average 250,000 hits
a day now with 8,000 visits."
In a very interesting series of statements made recently to a British
TVmagazine, executive producer and head writer for the much-under-valued STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE Ira Steven Behr
revealed why he would love to see a big screen adventure for the middle-child of the TREK
franchise, and why that will never happen.
In discussing the show, which ended in 1999, Behr said he’d be up for working on a DS9 movie
"In a heartbeat, but the chances of them doing a DEEP SPACE NINE movie are slim and none... I
think it came to make everyone [at the studio] just a little uncomfortable. It was a show that
went off the boundaries of what was going to be allowed and not allowed in terms of the STAR
TREK franchise. I believe that the future lies in these books that I hear they are doing to
continue it. I just think it's much easier to have the Enterprise back. To have a ship back.
It's a lot safer. DEEP SPACE NINE was a bold experiment. It did not have the ratings."
He also reminisced on his days working on the show and how it came to break the usual TREK
cookie-cutter mold.
"We wrote it for ourselves and we had a blast," Behr said. "Not only was it the best of the
[STAR TREK] shows, it was also the one series that had no true resolution, in a sense. It needs
some sort of movie to resolve it as they left it open-ended. We were lucky to do it. We were
lucky to do it under the circumstances that we got to do it. It was really a long shot that they
would leave us alone as much as they did leave us alone. Even Rick
[Berman] at one point basically said, 'Well, you're going to do it whether I say yes or
no anyway!' It was such a good experience and now it's over, it's still great. I told the
writers this during the waning days of the show: appreciate what you have now because when it's
over, it's not going to be easily recaptured."
Unfortunately, he was right. April 23, 2002
Source: www.cinescape.com
TV GUIDE is finally honoring the 35th anniversary of the STAR TREK franchise with, count them, 35 five separate alternate covers for
next week’s TV GUIDE. That’s right, 35.
The issues, sporting images from the casts of all five TREK live action shows (STAR TREK, THE NEXT GENERATION, DEEP SPACE NINE, VOYAGER, ENTERPRISE), will connect into one grand image. To collect them all, a fan
would have to shell out over $50.
The Fox Network is out with the first image from the long-ago
announced, finally airing episode of FUTURMA that finds Fry and friends
venturing to a planet populated by the heads of the original STAR TREK
cast. It seems after Fry left the 21st century, Earth sent every episode, movie and chunk of
memorabilia from TREK to planet Omega 3.
Once Fry and friends arrive, they find themselves at odds with the original trekkers. William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Walter Koenig, George Takei and Nichelle Nichols voice their cartoon personas, though it’s not the first time
on the show for Nichols. She also voiced a character in the episode that had Al Gore fighting
time travelers.
Ending the dry spell in recent weeks in which no fan club/genre organization/magazine/museum/
rotary club re-ranked the greatest episodes/moments/aliens/ships/bloopers/flubs/continuity
errors/hairstyles/laser colors in STAR TREK history, TV GUIDE has announced it’s April 20th issue will rank the 35 greatest
moments in the TV history of the franchise.
Why an arbitrary number like 35? Because it’s the 35th anniversary of the original STAR TREK,
and the magazine is running 35 different covers for the issue. When placed beside one another,
the covers will produce a mosaic of all the stars from STAR TREK, THE NEXT GENERATION, DEEP
SPACE NINE, VOYAGER and ENTERPRISE.
That many covers is a record for the GUIDE, but far less than the 491 variant GARFIELD covers run by CAT FANCY in August 1982.
Now please don’t write CAT FANCY to round out your collection. That’s a little joke. I think it
was just 231 covers anyhow.
So what are the top three moments?
According to GUIDE, number three is Picard getting Borgafied in "Best of Both Worlds Part 1."
Number two is Kirk reacting to Edith Keeler’s death in "City on the Edge of Forever," while the
top spot is taken with Picard getting into the running crew poker game at the and of "All Good
Things".
Now you know.
It looks like Paramount Home Video is doing the same with the
Collector’s Edition DVD of STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KAHN as it did
with the Director’s Edition DVD of STAR TREK - THE MOTION PICTURE.
Namely: delay, delay, delay.
While the disc has been in the works for awhile now, Paramount has announced it won’t be
making its June 25 release date, and no new date is set. That being said, the studio hints it
will be coming later this year. Remember THE MOTION PICTURE’s delays dragged on for over a year.
Now one sliver of hope: It seems the two-disc DVD release of KAHN will also sport a new
director’s cut of the film.
In an exclusive interview in the May issue of CINESCAPE magazine
(on stands now) ENTERPRISE co-creator and executive producer Brannon Braga talks about the what lies ahead for the season and the show, as
well as the heat he and co-creator Rick Berman took from some of the
more hard-core STAR TREK fans when ENTERPRISE hit the air.
"I do read the [Internet message] boards, but people who log onto these boards represent a
small part of the show's audience," he says. "They are, however, an audience. And they are fans
of the show, so I'm interested to hear what they have to say. But if you try to track
everything, you'll go crazy. Some of these people are vicious. It can really bruise your ego.
They get personal. And some of them are 12 years old, but you don't know that."
He also laments the straightjacket of continuity some fans want to wrap around the show.
"We're very aware of that, and we try very hard," he says. "We have made a few mistakes, but
nothing major. I read all these things on the Internet, these 'continuity pornographers' as I
like to call them, though I didn't invent the term. These people honestly think that Rick and I
are morons! Of course we know that the Ferengi didn't make first contact with Archer. They made
it with Picard. The only people who see the Ferengi are Trip, T'pol and Archer, and they never
find out who they were. They were 'those weird-looking guys' and they never see them again, so
you can have fun with continuity!"
It looks like Ashley Judd is returning to the role that first won
her the attention of many genre fans. Way back when, she appeared in two episodes of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION as Robin Lefler, a friend of boy genius Wesley
Crusher (Wil Wheaton). Now, it seems Judd is returning to the role for the upcoming STAR TREK: NEMESIS feature.
And if you don’t like spoilers, jump out now.
For those of you still there, it seems in the years since TNG, Ms. Lefler and the young
Crusher have tied the knot. Judd made the revelation while appearing on THE
LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN to promote HIGH CRIMES, saying
she’ll cameo in NEMESIS as Mrs. Robin (Lefler?) Crusher.
Patrick Stewart is talking again about STAR TREK: NEMESIS, and he’s
high on its chances and progress.
"You're going to meet the inhabitants of that planet, the Remans, [related to the Romulans]
who are quite unlike anything you've seen before," Stewart promised in an interview with the New
TV GUIDE issue sporting 35 alternate STAR TREK covers.
"I think they might be the most successful aliens [makeup designer] Michael
Westmore has ever produced - I even include the Borg in saying this," he said. "He's
brought an alien race to life in an entirely convincing way. There's something very novel and
unique in their design. They're imposing and sinister in a very different way from the Borg."
He also hinted at a romance and sexual content not seen much in previous TREK adventures.
"There is romance and there is also sex," he said, "but Picard is not involved in either."
April 11, 2002
Source: www.cinescape.com
Gates McFadden, who has a few times voiced her displeasure at some
of the writing in the "STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION" films, is
spinning only positive words about the next one, "STAR TREK: NEMESIS".
While talking to STARBURST MAGAZINE, McFadden, who like Marina
Sirtis in the past, has expressed the secondary characters in the cast have been pushed aside in
the films, said she’s more than happy with John Logan's script for
STAR TREK: NEMESIS.
"They always seem to have half of the script on the Internet before we've seen it," McFadden
said. "But, I'm not spoiling any surprises by saying that I think that it's going to be a really
good film. I enjoyed filming it, and I think John Logan wrote a really good script... The story
is interesting and they manage to use all of the characters well. Jean-Luc Picard really does
meet his match in this film, which is great."
About her past irritations, she said, "I didn't think [STAR TREK:
INSURRECTION] was so strong. It was a little quick after STAR TREK:
FIRST CONTACT, but that really is just a personal opinion. By comparison, I thought that
FIRST CONTACT was a really solid ‘together' script; I loved the story. I wasn't as wild about
INSURRECTION, but I've talked to many people who loved it. So, there you are."
Popular X-FILES writer John Shiban has
already found his post-FILES gig, now that the show is ending after nine seasons. Where’s he
going? Space.
Shiban has signed on as the newest writer for the STAR TREK prequel series ENTERPRISE.
In an interview about the scribing-coup, STAR TREK producer Rick
Berman told VARIETY, "The single hardest thing for us to do
after all these years is to find great writers who understand STAR TREK. It's always been a
problem."
Shiban has also worked on the short-lived FILES spin-off THE LONE
GUNMEN.
March 8, 2002
Source: The Digital Bits
"The Digital Bits" reporting that the special edition DVD of
"Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and "Star Trek III:
The Search for Spock" will hit shelves on summer, June ( unconfirmed ) for Trek II and
fall/winter for Trek III, possibly to coincide with the release of "Star Trek:
Nemesis". No details are out yet on what extra features will be available on these DVD's,
but rest assured, once it's made public, www.startreklibrary.com will have the details for
you. March 2, 2002
Source: Cinescape
In the new STAR TREK: COMMUNICATOR, Rick
Berman crows about the movie many are looking at to revive the STAR
TREK movie series, "STAR TREK: NEMESIS."
Here’s a big chunk of what he had to say:
I couldn't be more pleased, Berman said. Our director, Stuart
Baird, is extremely creative and he is doing an exceptional job. It has the look of a
huge action film. Stuart is so meticulous. He comes from a very, very remarkable career as an
editorial director who comes in and cuts movies when they are in trouble. He has also edited
incredible films dating all the way back to the rock opera TOMMY, etc... He certainly went to
school for STAR TREK and learned all the characters. He has got a huge appetite to get
everything he can possibly get. He's making an extraordinary film. The stuff I have seen cut
together and the dailies have been phenomenal. We have a terrific script that John Logan gave us, so I think we have a very exciting movie. I believe STAR
TREK fans will be very pleased.
After the crowing, Berman got more specific, chiefly about Ron
Pearlman ( "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST" ) taking a villainous role.
And if you don’t like spoilers, don’t read on. Highlight the part if you want to read ahead.
He will be playing out "second villain", so to speak, Berman said. Our
major antagonist in this film is being played by a young English actor named Tom Hardy who is an
extremely talented young man. Tom plays a clone of Picard. He also plays the leader of the Reman
Empire - the Reman Empire being the sister planet of Romulus. His trusty Viceroy, and right arm
and henchman, is being played by Ron Perlman. The Viceroy is also the man who raised him and is
a Reman himself. Tom Hardy is a relative newcomer. He has a small but very effective role in
BLACK HAWK DOWN. These two guys are both terrific. Neither of them has started working yet. We
have spent a lot of time with Tom rehearsing, and on costume fittings and make-up and body molds
and those sorts of thing. But they don't start shooting for a couple of weeks.
Source: Cinescape
In a conversation with Cinescape, ENTERPRISE co-creator and co-executive producer Brannon
Braga had a few things to say about QUANTUM LEAP's Dean Stockwell's guest starring role in the upcoming "Detained".
"That's right. Dean Stockwell is going to play a big villain opposite Scott
Bakula," Braga said, adding, Stockwell will play Col. Grat, a member of, "a whole new
species. He's runs the prison where the innocent Suliban are being held. Archer and this guy
have a series of very philosophical scenes. It seems like the perfect episode to ask Dean
Stockwell to do, and he was very generous to agree to do it."
For the science fictionally illiterate among you, Stockwell co-stared with ENTERPRISE's Scott
Bakula on LEAP for four years.
Source: Cinescape
In a recent interview with CINESCAPE, ENTERPRISE executive producer Brannon Braga outlined
some of what fans can expect in the future, and outlined the differences he sees between the
ENTERPRISE crew and the generations which follow.
"Sensuality is sexual tension. And there's a lot of sexual tension between Trip and T'Pol and
Archer and T'Pol," Braga teased. "Trip got pregnant. There was a lot of sensuality in that one
and we have a show coming up where T'Pol gets nasty with a Vulcan. And that's a real sexy show."
He also discussed how sensuality, and its sundry teasing, which has been missing in many ways
from the last few STAR TREK shows, is a growing component of the show
he and TREK steward Rick Berman created.
"Hopefully the sensuality runs through the show. You see our people in their underwear. You
see Archer in the shower. There's an episode where the Ferengi take over the ship and Trip
spends the entire episode in his underwear, running around the ship like Bruce
Willis. Sensuality can be humorous. It can be obvious and it can be subtle. Rick and I
have been allowed to bring our own sensibilities to the show in a more natural way, which we
haven't been allowed to do in some of the other shows."
He then pointed out how he hopes ENTERPRISE will differ from the more recent TREK entries.
"You have to understand that NEXT GENERATION and VOYAGER were great shows. But they were squeaky-clean shows," Braga said.
"They were sterile somehow. The characters were so far removed from you and me that they were
hard to relate. On ENTERPRISE I want to feel the grime. And I want to feel the fear. And I want
to feel the excitement. In the last couple of VOYAGER's, I don't think we were feeling any of
that. I thought that we were telling good stories, but there was something missing. The
Roddenberry-essence had gotten lost.
So what can fans expect for the rest of ENTERPRISE's first year?
"We're going to try to continue dipping into the Vulcan aspects of the show, but in different
ways," Braga said. "We're going to meet some Vulcans who are trying to put emotion into their
lives. And T'Pol is going to become enmeshed in a twisted tale of seduction, like a Vulcan 9 1/2
WEEKS. This may sound simplistic, but we're just trying to tell the best stories that we can
tell and we don't want to rush it. We feel like this crew is just getting out there, taking
their baby steps, discovering what this galaxy is all about. And we're trying to just very
gradually tell good stories. There's a lot of good stories coming up, we're very pleased."
Source: Cinescape
Gates McFadden, who has a few times voiced her displeasure at some
of the writing in the "STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION" films, is
spinning only positive words about the next one, "STAR TREK: NEMESIS".
While talking to STARBURST MAGAZINE, McFadden, who like Marina Sirtis in the past, has expressed the secondary characters in the cast
have been pushed aside in the films, said she’s more than happy with John
Logan’s script for NEMESIS.
They always seem to have half of the script on the Internet before we've seen it, McFadden
said. But, I'm not spoiling any surprises by saying that I think that it's going to be a really
good film. I enjoyed filming it, and I think John Logan wrote a really good script. The story is
interesting and they manage to use all of the characters well. Jean-Luc Picard really does meet
his match in this film, which is great.
About her past irritations, she said, I didn't think [ "STAR TREK:
INSURRECTION" ] was so strong. It was a little quick after "STAR TREK:
FIRST CONTACT", but that really is just a personal opinion. By comparison, I thought that
FIRST CONTACT was a really solid ‘together' script; I loved the story. I wasn't as wild about
INSURRECTION, but I've talked to many people who loved it. So, there you are. February 21, 2002
Source: DVDFile.com and various sites...
This is probably old news to many of you visitors out there to this site, but is a worthy new
news to this site:
Paramount Home Entertainment will be
releasing "STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION" to DVD with its full seven
season disc set. The first season disc box set will contain all twenty-five episodes, twenty-six
including part two of its premiere along with the following special features:
Disc 1: Encounter at Farpoint Parts 1 & 2 (episodes 101, 102), The Naked Now (103), Code of
Honor (104) Special Features
Disc 7 of the DVD includes the following special features:
The Beginning: focusing on the challenges of creating a new series and keeping to Gene Roddenberry's vision. Includes interviews with Roddenberry, Patrick Stewart, Robert Justman (former producer of
the Original Series), Rick Berman
(Co-Executive Producer at the time), Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Denise Crosby and other cast members.
Selected Crew Analysis: features first season cast members talking about their roles, their
acting backgrounds prior to being cast and their impressions of the Star Trek legacy. Also
features a comparison between the launch of the series in 1987 and the comments from the cast
seven years later (1994), using archive interviews and b-roll to present a fascinating ‘before'
and ‘after' look from the series cast members.
The Making of a Legend: features commentary from the first season production staff members:
Michael Westmore (Make-up), Herman Zimmerman
(Production Designer), Mike Okuda (Scenic Artist), Richard Sternbach (Scenic Artist), Dan Curry (Visual
Effects), Peter Lauritson (Co-Producer), Rick Berman and others, as
they discuss the making of the new series. Uncovers information on how the beaming effect is
achieved, Worf's make up process and how much time and effort goes into creating each episode.
Memorable Missions: cast and crew discussions of specific episodes and events that occurred
during the first season.
The DVD is expected to hit stores on March 26, 2002 with the subsequent seasons to be
completely released this year. Season Two, with 6-disc box set, is expected to hit stores
sometime in June, after its delay of earlier release in May 7th, 2002. The Season-One box set is
expected to retail for around $US100.00. February 19, 2002
Source: Cinescape
According to a report on the STAR TREK site TREKWEB, two writer/producers of ENTERPRISE have
left the show’s writing staff.
Antoinette Stella, who penned "Terra Nova", and Tim Finch,
who scratched out "Cold Front", have vacated their
slots on the newbie TREK’s staff with no word on replacements.
For those of you keeping score, TREK shows are usually hard on their writers, with the turn
over for the first few seasons of THE NEXT GENERATION something that
fans still talk about. Of course, is there anything in this franchise that is ever not talked
about?
According to TREKWEB, those who remain are, Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, long-time science consultant Andre
Bormanis, VOYAGER vets Mike Sussman and
Phyllis Strong, Fred Dekker, Steven Beck, Chris Black, and Maria and Andre Jaquemetton.
Source: Cinescape
In an interview with Trekweb.com, DEEP SPACE
NINE pillar Rene Auberjonois had some words to say about his
guest shot on an upcoming ENTERPRISE and his work as Odo on the late
great DS9.
Auberjonois revealed his return to the STAR TREK universe will be as Elcazar on the upcoming
"Oasis."
He also contrasted his work on the sometimes turbulent set of DS9 with his guest shot on
ENTERPRISE.
Compared to Avery [Brooks] (‘Captain Sisko’), who was so intense and
[played] such a complex and dark character from the beginning -- he didn’t want to be there [on
DS9] -- and who went through such difficult emotional relationships, Scott
[Bakula] is a more laid back, kind of humorous more relaxed. I like that a lot. I think
it’s a nice twist on the captain.
Auberjonois also talked about his feelings working on DS9, seen by many as the last great
TREK show, though it’s frequently overlooked, even by its own studio.
I would say it’s true that DS9 really was the sort of middle child of the family and it never
really had enough of a chance to be on it’s own, he said. We overlapped with TNG and VOYAGER
and we really hardly had any chance to sort of be the only game in town and I think that didn’t
always work in its best interest. February 3, 2002
Source: Star Trek: Continuum
According to the "Star Trek: Continuum", the official Star Trek
web site, filming for "Star Trek: Nemesis" is halfway complete, with
most of the Bridge scenes nearly completed. The only remaining scenes left to shoot are in the
ship's turbolifts and Jefferies Tube before the production moves onto shoot the Romulan
sequences. The site also posted the full cast-and-crew credits list for your
perusal. January 22, 2002
Source: Cinescape
Cinescape has just posted the release date for "STAR TREK: NEMESIS", the tenth Star Trek film currently under production at
Paramount Studios, under the direction of Stuart
Baird. Here's what Cinescape had to report:
In a short bit about the upcoming NEXT GENERATION era feature film -- STAR TREK: NEMESIS
-- carried in the CHICAGO SUN TIMES, Columnist Cindy Pearlman has revealed the film’s release date.
While several dates have been thrown around the Internet in the last few months -- most of
which place NEMESIS on track for a 2003 release -- Pearlman, a longtime source of reliable TREK
news, reveals it will hit theaters November 22.
Here’s hoping she’s right.
Source: Cinescape
ENTERPRISE co-executive producer Brannon
Braga has been talking about future plans for the program's overall Temporal Cold War
story arc.
In the latest issue of STAR TREK: THE MAGAZINE, Braga touched upon
who that shadowy bad guy backing up the Suliban might actually be, saying, "They have several
possiblities in mind but they aren't settled on any, they may come up with another possiblity in
the future."
Braga notes that in developing the story and hopeful payoff down the line, "you want to
figure out about 25% and leave the remaining 75% up to inspiration. They know where a lot of
things stand."
Braga also revealed that, as expected, the Suliban will be returning in future episodes as
the series paves the way towards what will eventually be the Federation. As for established TREK
continuity, ENTERPRISE will stay true to what has been established, will cross continuity only
after careful thought and for a good reason." |
Fans will soon be able to experience a
whole new dimension of one of the most beloved Star Trek cinema
classics. Paramount Home Entertainment plans to release "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - The Director's Edition" on DVD August 6,
featuring a new cut of the movie and over four hours of bonus material.
DVD Contents: