Whee A New Star Trek Screenshot

In a sign that JJ Abrams might just be taken the secrecy regarding Star Trek a little too far, below is a single new still from the film from Total Film for their Magazine issue. The picture shows off the Enterprise view screen and Nero's ugly mug. Nero is the main villain of the movie, whose motivations is to destroy Vulcan and all things related to the Enterprise because in the post Next Generation future, the planet Romulus (and his family) was killed when the star went nova and Vulcan refused to provide secret technology to prevent it. The full gallery is here but the rest of the images are nothing new.

Shatner Talks Sci-Fi, Trek

IGN recently spoke with William Shatner about his most recent project, the sci-fi film Groom Lake. While talking that, he briefly talked Trek and Sci-Fi in general.

IGN: Do you become more and more of a sci-fi fan as you do more and more projects within the genre?
SHATNER: I was always a sci-fi fanatic. I was reading all those guys who came to write for us on Star Trek several years before Star Trek existed. Those great science-fiction writers of the 50's and 60's and 70's, they were brilliant storytelling minds, and the fascination, for me, is imagining a world that you'll never see, you'll never be a part of. In 2020, when the last bubble of methane comes out of the arctic lake, what's going to happen? What's going to happen in 100 years when what the planet has planned now goes through its many manifestations? It drives me crazy that I will not know what's going to happen. It's like a child growing up and going off and you don't know what becomes of them. You yearn for a letter. Write home! Yet they never do. And that's the tragedy of death. One of the fears of dying is that you won't know what's going to happen – not just the next minute after you die, but what'll happen in 50 years when all your relatives are dead and a new set has come along. Who are they? Will there be a cure for cancer? Will there be interplanetary travel? Will we find answers to all these incredible questions that plague me? What is Dark Matter? What is the essence of light? The very questions that scientists are asking themselves today, and are striving to find the answers to, what's driving them is an outrageous curiosity as to the nature of our world…Somebody was able to transport a molecule…Now, that's interesting. They got a molecule, which means they can do two molecules. And then…what? You know the adage that if you can imagine something, it's possible? It's true. Because what's really out there, we can't imagine. That's the most fascinating part. Instead of straight-line travel, it's all bent. So if you think in bent-line terms, nothing makes sense. Maybe the galaxies are speeding up. The mystery of everything! But I hate mysteries. But that drives my interest in science-fiction…If you think finding life on Mars is going to be a big thing, the day we find that the speed of light isn't the law of the universe, that'll be something!

Fan Made Enterprise Wallpaper

From TrekMovie.com is a gallery of computer wallpaper based on the various versions of the USS Enterprise by Tobias Richter. All are very beautiful and highly recommend checking out the full gallery here.

Star Trek: TNG Reunite for Family Guy

According to THR, the season one cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation is re-uniting to do voice work for an episode of Family Guy.

In the episode titled “Not All Dogs Go to Heaven,” the "Next Gen" crew (Patrick Stewart, Levar Burton, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Wil Wheaton, Denise Crosby, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes) will provide guest voices as the Griffin family heads to the annual Quahog “Trek” convention.

"Stewie blows a fuse when he doesn’t get a chance to ask his favorite 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' cast members any questions," reads the logline. "He devises a plan, builds a transporter and beams the entire cast to his bedroom so they can spend a fun-filled day together in Quahog."

New Star Trek Logo

Via Slashfilm, Paramount Pictures has released a new logo for JJ Abrams Star Trek film that is coming out in May. I an underwhelmed. Just block lettering with the light flare seems rather average to me. Once incorporated into a poster it might look better.

Star Trek Countdown Issue #2

Star Trek Countdown #2, the prequel mini-series for the upcoming movie, I believe is hitting comic book stores this Wednesday and AICN has a preview of the first five pages. Even better, they have a nice and concise summary of the first issue so click here to read it all.

MTV's Star Trek Featurette

Below is a behind the scenes video from MTV that I think aired as part of an episode of Spoilers this Saturday. It is a mixture of trailer footage and quick interviews with various cast members as they talk about how great Star Trek director JJ Abrams is and his plans for the movie. Informationally, not a whole lot going on but it is only a little over a minute long.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

A Fourth Trailer Planned

The other day I posted that the third Star Trek trailer will premiere with Watchmen on March 6th. Now the Hollywood Reporter is saying a fourth trailer is also in the works, one that geared more towards families.

The first teaser took off in the summer and showed the Enterprise literally being built (tagline: "Under construction"), aimed at the core fan base. It was followed by a more traditional narrative trailer that debuted in November in front of "Quantum of Solace," designed to appeal to action-adventure and sci-fi fans by showing off the special effects and connecting a recognizable Earth with a space-epic scale. A third teaser during the Super Bowl this month targeted general audiences with a more generic, event-movie-style spot.

A new trailer will pair with "Watchmen" on March 6 and highlight the emotional aspects of Kirk's story, and the final spot will reach out to families who saw and liked such similar PG-13 fantasias as "Indiana Jones" and "Transformers."

"Worst-case scenario is, they don't market it correctly and offend the fans," says "Trek" expert Richard Arnold, a former assistant to Roddenberry who once consulted for Paramount. "And they are going to be an important part of the boxoffice because there are 25 million 'Star Trek' fans worldwide."

"Certainly the scope of this 'Star Trek' is unlike any that's come before it," Kurtzman says. "So if you want 'Transformers'-scope action sequences in space? That's what you will get when you see 'Star Trek.' "

Star Trek Original Series Blu-Ray Coming

Paramount Pictures has announced it is releasing the first season of Star Trek The Original Series, the first six movies on Blu-ray and a "Trilogy" set of movies 2,3, and 4. The sets should start coming out around May 12th.

An included feature for the season set is the ability to toggle between the broadcast and enhanced versions of the episodes. Of note is the set will not include Robert Wise's Director's Cut of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture."

Star Trek II: Demon Warrior?

In a walk down Star Trek books past, Vonda N McIntyre discusses some of her experiences writing Star Trek books and adapting several of the movies. I remember reading many of her books, my Dad at one time owning pretty much every paperback Star Trek book that ever came out (before giving most of them away). One of her stories is the news that Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan had several potential names in the works.

Somebody in the licensing department at Paramount called me and said, “What do you think of The Revenge of Khan?”

This was just about the time The Return of the Jedi was scheduled to debut, though the title hadn’t been released yet and the gossip was that it would be called Revenge of the Jedi.

They sent me a copy of the cover. It was quite handsome, with The Revenge of Khan in gold embossing (which is expensive and takes longer).

“OK,” sez I. I didn’t actually care what they called it since they weren’t going to use Demon Warrior (I knew I’d remember that eventually).

A few weeks later I saw an article about The Return of the Jedi, with a quote to the effect that it had never been going to be called “Revenge,” nuh-uh, because Jedi knights don’t indulge in revenge.

I fell on the floor laughing.

The full blog post is here and worth the read as are her books.

New Images of Enterprise's Interior

The official website has updated with a "Panorama" feature that allows you a 360 degree view of portions of the new USS Enterprise. The features include a zoom in feature so you can get a close look at control panels and other details. For now it is just "Corridor A" and "Corridor B" but more will be added later.

Foster Writing Movie Adaptation

Sci-Fi writer Alan Dean Foster has been tapped to write the movie adaptation novel for the upcoming movie, as announced on his website.

This month's update is going to be very brief. I had to fly into Los Angeles a week ago to, among other things, see the new STAR TREK movie at Paramount. Which in my opinion is, by the way, really, really good. And as I'm writing the book version, and as said book version must be completed really, really soon, I am going to be really, really busy for the next month.

TrekMovie.com (who has contacts I would love to have) have verified the news with Pocket Books. The adaptation will be released around May 8th, in the large sized paperback format (I think that is the longer books seen recently in stores) for an estimated price of $16 which could change. No word on an audio version but I would be very surprised if there isn't one.

The choice even comes Star Trek movie writer Roberto Orci approved:

If you are a fan of novelizations as we were as kids, then you have known his name for a long time and aside from that he has written some incredible sci-fi of his own. You are lucky to get him to do something based on your work and it was an honor to have this chance. And of course we were huge fans of his Transformer novelization.

Orci is hoping the novelization can provide more details then the movie can and "explain things and answer some questions in a way that can’t be done in a script." Those detail probably relate to this movie taking place in a Star Trek 2.0 alternate universe and can provide more background on the various rebooted characters.

"Cadet" Tania Gunadi Interview

IGN spoke briefly with actress Tania Gunadi (Aaron Stone) about her small role in Star Trek where she plays a Starfleet Academy Cadet. Thanks to Brian for the link.

IGN: can you talk at all about your role in Star Trek?
Gunadi: Well, I did sign a contract where I can't say anything! But I think it's okay to say that I am playing a Starfleet Cadet.

IGN: Right. I saw that listed on imdb.
Gunadi: Yeah. It's a small role. I worked for three days and they were shooting for about four months. But I will say that I am an alien. I'm one of the aliens. I must say that the makeup took about four or five hours to put on and two hours to take off – to remove. It's pretty cool, but I can't tell you what the alien is.

IGN: What was it like working on a such a large production?
Gunadi: It was amazing. J.J. Abrams is so nice. He's so nice and everyone was so cool. They make sure you can breathe [under the makeup] and they take care of you. No one was stuck up or anything. And the food was so good! [Laughs] And I love food! There was lots of green screen.

3rd Trek Trailer Coming

According to Dark Horizons, Paramount Pictures plans to release a third trailer for Star Trek with Watchmen. That movie will be in theatres on March 6th. It will then premiere online on March 9th at Apple.com.

Many Star Trek Toy Pics

Lots of pictures are now online that shows off the various toy planned for release with Star Trek over the next few months, many of them in their packaging. The full gallery is here.

Tyler Perry Talks Trek

While promoting his upcoming film Madea Goes To Jail, Tyler Perry spoke with Black Voices about his work in the upcoming Star Trek film where he plays the head of Starfleet Academy. Thanks to Wilson for the link.

How fun was it to work on 'Star Trek'?
TP: It was really exciting. J.J Abrams is a fan and he called and asked me if I would be interested in doing the film and I was shocked. The timing was perfect and it was only a week. It's a really small role. It really helped me to see what it's like to be on someone else's set.

What's your role in the film?
TP: I'm the Commander of the Star Fleet. I run the school. I'm a pretty big guy, literally, and in the film.

Were you a 'Star Trek' fan?
TP: No, I only had two scenes with the two leads. I wasn't a trekkie, but after seeing the trailer, I may become one.

How was wearing the uniform? Did you get to keep it?
TP: Oh no. They were top secret about the uniform. We had to wear rain coats to cover them up so that they wouldn't be shot from the outside. This whole thing has been top secret, but it would be worth it when it comes out.

I know you mentioned that Abrams is a fan of yours, but considering you haven't acted in films outside of your own, did you wonder if he brought you on to bring in a large African American base to the film?
TP: I don't know if that is what he was thinking. Looking at him and talking to him, he is the Jewish version of me. He works on television and works on films. He does not stop. He writes as well. I was watching him work and rework the scene, and there's something about my story that is so similar to him in what I'm doing. I think it intrigued him as much as it intrigued me. I don't think that demographics was the case of me being in the film; because they would have given me a supportive role rather than just a cameo. I think it was about him feeling me out and me about him, and I think it worked out okay.

Was he the first to ask you to appear in a movie outside of your films?
TP: He was the first. It didn't make sense to do a movie that I can do myself. I don't want you to call me and ask me to do a film about a black family. I can do that myself. I don't want to be in your movie doing that. Now, if you want me to do 'Mission: Impossible', or 'Star Trek' or 'Wolverine', which I was called for but I couldn't do because I was doing 'The Family That Preys', but those sort of films, yes, I can do that.

Abrams Talk Trek to LA Times

LA Times had a two part interview with Star Trek director J.J. Abrams about the upcoming movie. Below are some excepts or read the whole thing (part one, part two).

With "Star Trek" you seem to be pursuing a revival like we've seen with Batman and James Bond, which holds on to core mythology but recalibrates the tone.
JJA: I think I benefited because I came into this movie as someone who appreciated "Star Trek" but wasn't an insane fanatic about it. The disadvantage is I didn't know everything I needed to know immediately at the beginning and had to learn it. The advantage though is I could look at "Star Trek" as a whole a little bit more like a typical moviegoer would see it; it allowed me to seize the things that I felt were truly the most iconic and important aspects of the original series and yet not be serving the master and trying to be true to every arcane detail. It let me look at the things I knew were critical.

GB: What are some of the things that made that "critical" list?
JJA: The characters was the most important thing in it. We needed to be true to the spirit of those characters. There were certain iconic things -- if you're going to do "Star Trek," you've got to do the Enterprise and it has to look like the Enterprise. If you're going to do "Star Trek" you have to do costumes that feel like the costumes people know. You have to be able to glance at it and know what that is. Even the text, the font of "Star Trek" has to look like what you know.

The phasers, the communicators, the Starfleet logo -- there are all these things that are the touchstones, the tenets of what makes "Star Trek" "Star Trek." If you're going to do this series those are things you don't mess with. And yet, they need to withstand a resolution that "Star Trek" has never had to withstand before. And I don't just mean IMAX -- though it will have to work there too -- but what I mean is that audiences are so savvy now and they've seen every iteration of "Star Trek," "Star Wars," two separate versions of "Battlestar Galactica," they've seen "Alien" and "Aliens," they've seen countless science fiction movies. They've seen it all. And even worse, they've seen a movie as "Galaxy Quest" that completely mocks the paradigm in its entirety.

GB: You know that no matter what you do, you'll get an earful from hardcore fans.
JJA: The key is to appreciate that there are purists and fans of "Star Trek" who are going to be very vocal if they see things that aren't what what they want. But I can't make this movie for readers of Nacelles Monthly who are only concerned with what the ship's engines look like. They're going to find something they hate no matter what I do. And yet, the movie at its core is not only inspired by what has come before, it's deeply true to what's come before. The bottom line is we have different actors playing these parts and from that point on it's literally not what they've seen before. It will be evident when people see this movie that it is true to what Roddenberry created and what those amazing actors did in the 1960s. At the same time, I think, it's going to blow people's minds because its a completely different experience than what they expect.

GB: Last time I saw you, you mentioned there would be a tribble in the movie. That's fun.
JAA: Yes! There is a tribble in there. But you have to look for it. And there's that other surprise I told you about but please don't write about that one.

GB: Can you talk a bit about the story of this film?
JJA: This story is ultimately about a guy who is full of unbelievable potential but he is aimless, he is lost. He ends up finding a path that takes him beyond his wildest dreams. It helps him find his purpose. That's a great story in any situation, in any culture. There is something about that spirit of innovation, collaboration, possibility, adventure and optimism that is inherent in what "Star Trek" was.

GB: How much did you go back to the various "Trek" shows, films, novels, etc., to research the mythology? I imagine at some point sifting through all of it would become a counterproductive exercise.
JJA: I looked at a lot of the episodes of all the series that came after the original "Star Trek" but because we are focusing on the original series I didn't really need to know every episode of "Deep Space Nine" or "Voyager" or even "Enterprise." But, yeah, I watched episodes, I read up a lot, I watched the movies, I talked to people, whether it was our "Trek" consultant or one of the two writers [Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci] about what it would mean to do what we wanted to do. We have one producer, Bob [Orci], who is a complete Trekker and another in Bryan Burk who had never seen an episode of the show ever. And it was a great balance. We could make sure it passed the test of the ultimate fan and the ultimate neophyte and make sure that it was equally entertaining to both parties.

Star Trek Superbowl Commercial

For your enjoyment, the Star Trek Superbowl commercial that will make its official premiere during the game. It includes a lot more new scenes then I expected. To see it a little larger then the below, click here.


io9.com has a screenshot by screenshot breakdown of the trailer here.