Star Trek: TNG - Next Level Out Now; Season Sets Comings

Today is the release of Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Next Level Blu-ray sampler that shows off the HD improvements made to TNG. The disc is four episodes used to test what is now the plan to release all 7 seasons in HD over the next three years. The season one set is expected to be out later this year but the cost is likely to be high if the DVD sets are any indication. CBS Home Entertainment GM Ken Ross spoke with StarTrek.com about the project and the work being done to prep the season sets.

How massive a project was/is it?
Ross: It was and continues to be an enormous project that will take several years to complete. From a manpower perspective, we have more than 20 people working on this project full time in three shifts 24 hours a day. It’s a huge commitment to transfer all seven seasons to high definition.

Give us a sense of what we’re talking about – how much footage needed to be sorted through? How many effects shots? We’ve heard about salt mines?
Ross: Paramount/CBS did a great job preserving the original film from TNG. For years, it’s been stored in salt mines in Pennsylvania. There were 2,500 cartons with at least 25,000 reels of film in them – and that’s a conservative estimate. Once we decided to go forward with this project, it took months to truck all the boxes out to Los Angeles. The number of VFX shots varies depending on the season, but to give you an idea, the first season had more than 1,700 VFX shots to recreate.

Noel Clarke Talks Star Trek Audition

In an interview for London360, new Star Trek sequel castmember spoke about the audition for his Star Trek role of a family man. He also shared his knowledge of Trek through watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. The main cast as started filming but since his role is likely a minor part, he has not yet started filming. I suspect it is being used to drill home an attack occuring on another planet or the like. (via TrekMovie)

Roberto Orci Talks on Sequel Writing Process, Time Jump

The other day Zachary Quinto commented on the Star Trek sequel script saying, "There was a writer's strike the first time so they weren't able to let the script evolve. Now it's really changing...on a regular basis." Apparently that caused some concerns among fans (not entirely sure why since drafts are the norm). Seeing this concern on TrekMovie, Bob Orci wrote their comments about the writing process and revealed that while the sequel will have a time jump; it may not necessarily be the real world gap of four years.

boborci: First, this movie is by no means written by committee. It has been written by ONE team. Me, Alex [Kurtzman], and Damon [Lindelof]. Thanks to the protective umbrella of the success of our first movie and JJ Abrams, we get less studio interference than almost any other production around. This process is the OPPOSITE of script by committee.

Zoe Saldana Talks Trek Sequel at Sundance

While at the Sundance Film Festival, Zoe Saldana spoke with various websites about returning to the role of Uhura for the Star Trek sequel. She also briefly spoke about the Uhura and Spock relationship. As usual with anything regarding Trek, the JJ Abrams cone of silence remains in place so no details were provided.

The Vulture Blog:
Let's talk briefly about Star Trek 2. The studio let J.J. Abrams have a little bit more time than most directors would have to prep the sequel, but for a while there, were you like, "C'mon, I want to get back on the Enterprise"?
I kind of was, yeah. The film came out in 2009, we shot it in '07, and now it's 2012. So yeah, around last year, I was like, "Come on, come on already," because I had such a wonderful time working with J.J. and the cast and doing science fiction, which is my biggest passion and my preference as an audience and as a reader, too. But when you're around J.J. and you're around [Avatar director] Jim Cameron, you sense that there's this absolute consciousness that if they don't focus on the quality of what they do, then their formula's not going to work. That's the one thing they have in common; they're amazing storytellers, so J.J. probably would have fought for the time that he needed for the sequel.

Star Trek: TNG Cast To Reunite

The Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo has scored quite a coup with the entire first season bridge crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation reuniting. The con is held from April 27-29th in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with the actors appearing in multiple events including panels, autograph sessions, and more. The main event will be TNG EXPOsed on April 28th where the cast will appear together for a moderationed panel. As of now the TNG cast appearing is Sir Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean Luc Picard), Brent Spiner (Data), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi), Jonathan Frakes (Commander Will Riker), Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher), Michael Dorn (Worf), LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge), Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar), and Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher). More information about the Calgary Expo can be found here.

Zachary Quito On Star Trek Sequel Script, Stars

While at the Producer's Guild Awards, Zachary Quintoi spoke with E! Online about the Star Trek sequel that recently started production and in typical secrets lock down mode as is typical of a JJ Abrams production. While he didn't provide specifics about the story, he did talk a little script process and the recent additions to the cast.

"My eyebrows are shaved and I do my hair in a way that people don't know I actually have my horrible Spock hair," he told us at the Producers Guild Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

"It's been really great," he added. "We've been shooting for a week and a half, and it's been an incredible return to that world."

"It was the middle of December and finally I had to be like, 'We need to read the script,'" Quinto said, with a smile. "They waited a pretty long time, but that's because they were working on it. There was a writer's strike the first time so they weren't able to let the script evolve. Now it's really changing...on a regular basis."

Benedict Cumberbatch, Peter Weller and Alice Eve are new additions to the cast. "All of them have folded in so beautifully and brought a whole new level of intelligence and sensitivity," Quinto said.

(via TrekMovie)

Lego USS Reliant NCC-1864

The USS Reliant (NCC-1864) recieves a nice homage care of Legomanica Christer Nyberg. The Reliant is the star ship that Khan hijacks in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in his effort to destroy Kirk and the Enterprise. The ship was built from more than 10 thousand bricks. The full gallery can be found here. More of Christer's creations can be found here. (via Brothers Brick)

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season One Cover

TrekCore has posted the first image of the HD version of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season One on Blu-ray. The sampler disc of three converted episodes, Star Trek: TNG - The Next Level, will be out on January 31st. Also below is a comparison slideshow that helps demonstrate what the differences are in the HD converstion.

IDW April Star Trek Comics

IDW Publishing has released their publishing plans for April that continues the adventures of the Enterprise 2.0 crew. One comic is being released that month. The is issue if the first original, non TOS inspired story that may hints at events in next year's movie. If you are interested in the books, just let your local comic book store know. For the full details of IDW's other books including GI Joe, Transformers, Locke & Key and more click here.

Star Trek #8
Written by Mike Johnson, art by Joe Phillips, cover by Tim Bradstreet
Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise race against time to stop a renegade Vulcan plot to destroy Romulus! Spock's father Sarek guest-stars in this original story overseen by Star Trek writer/producer Roberto Orci that takes place between the events of the 2009 blockbuster film and the upcoming sequel!
32 pages, $3.99

Orci Briefly Comments on Star Trek Sequel

Bob Orci, one of the writers for the upcoming Star Trek sequel, occasionally likes to lurk the web to read about what fan are saying about Star Trek. One of his stomping grounds is sadly not this site but TrekMovie where he answered a few questions about the sequel. He spoke about the budget (larger than last), scope (bigger), and mentioned that more of the engine will be seen in the film. In regards to what "more" means to the budget, the previous film's estimated budget was $145 million so as long as in that range that should give Abrams the room to make excellent use of visual special effects and add more lens flares.

Star Trek #5 Preview

Today brings the next issue of the ongoing adventures of the "new" crew of the Enterprise as they chart a new yet familiar path. The latest adventure is a retelling of the episode "Operation: Annihilate". In that episode Kirk and company must defeat a parasite that has been destroying planets with madness, the latest potential victim being the colony of Deneva. For a preview of the issue, including a node to events in the movie, click here.

Star Trek Online Officially Free To Play

Starting now, 1701 (January 17th) Star Trek Online has officially moved to the free to play model. That means free to download, no monthly subscription fees and free to do most things in the online universe. Like all free to play models, there are limitations that TrekMovie has listed in a handy chart to compare the features between the $15 a month subscribers and free to play. Honestly though, unless you are a hardcore gamer, there is nothing to prevent you from enjoying to game for free. Trailer below, more details here.

Cumberbatch Talks Trek Prep

MTV spoke with new Star Trek cast member Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, War Horse) about his role in the movie while he was at the Golden Globes. It seems he has already has drilled into him to keep all the Trek secrets as he would not confirm if his role is the villain, only saying that "I don't think we know that ...is just supposition." He starts filming next week. (via TrekMovie)

Star Trek Sequel Production Start Press Release, Comments

We already knew that principle photography for the unnamed Star Trek sequel began on Thursday January 12th, 2012. Now Paramount has acknowledged it with a press release (below). According to Hero Complex, that Monday was the day for costume fittings and mini reunion for some the cast. Greenwood commented about the script and pointed out that production is in full lock down mode complete with detailed non-disclosure agreements, probably something that is automatic for any Abrams production.

Star Trek Sequel Filming Begins

It has finally begun. After many delays for other projects, the Star Trek sequel has begun filming today. Since it is a JJ Abrams budget, the details on the film are not available, not even what people are playing in the movie besides returning cast members. Other unknowns besides what the film is about is the budget (more or less than previous film) and how long filming will occur. TrekMovie was able to determine that most of the film will be done on studio sets with some on location shooting including that a jungle sequence will be filming in sourthern California instead of Hawaii. Star Trek writer Damon Lindelof essentially confirmed the start of filming on twitter saying "I love the smell of dilithium in the morning. Good to be back." and Roberto Orci wrote on the TrekMovie comments that the Budwiser plant engine room might get an upgrade saying "I'll tell you this. There are some cool improvements to engine room!" The film is set for release on May 17, 2013.

Star Trek: TNG Next Level Comparison Clip

On January 31st, Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Next Level Blu-ray is being released which will contain a sampler of three episodes that have been converted to hi-def using orginal film negatives recut together, 7.1 DTS surround sound, and recompositioned visual effects. The set is a way to show off what will ultimately be the hi-def release of the entire show which is expected to start late in the year as the conversion process is time consuming. As the clip below from the pilot episode shows, the result is pretty awesome with a lot of new details being show off. (via i09)

Alice Eve on Working with Cumberbatch

New Star Trek cast member recently commented to MTV about her also new co-star Benedict Cumberbatch who she has worked with several times before. Videos of the two together on screen can be seen here.

"I'm very excited to work with him again. He's so very funny, Ben," she said. "I don't know if you remember his character in 'Starter for 10,' but he was so funny. Like King of the Geeks, but he did it so well, and I found a lot of that hard to get through because he was so funny. I like him very much."

"It's similar to 'Starter for 10,' from my point of view, in that there is a group of young actors who have a team spirit, which is always so revivifying to be a part of," she said. "When there's a group of people who you can spend time with and work with and get to know, a real good experience, it's kind of like going back to university or something, when everyone has got the same objective. There's a lot of energy, and it's a nice thing to be a part of that group. That's the thing that excites me most about it. Obviously, there is a huge legacy there with 'Star Trek' and the fanatics, so hopefully they'll be satisfied."

Thor's Joseph Gatt Cast in Star Trek Sequel

Things continue to ramp up to Thursday's start date for Star Trek 2 (or 12) with yet another casting announcement. Joseph Gatt will join the film in an unknown role but considering his role as the frost giant Grundroth in Thor, I suspect it will likely be a villain alien. He looks like he might make for one massive Klingon or an Orion pirate.

Star Trek Filming Begins Thursday

While at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour to promote the upcoming premiere of Alcatraz, J.J. Abrams fielded a few questions about the Star Trek sequel. He mentioned that principle photography begins Thursday, and last around 4 months while also providing details on Star Trek 2 post converted 3D and the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock). In short, Abrams didn't push for 3D but the studio wanted it. From tests run by converting the first Trek film, it seems like post converted 3D would work out so he agreed to that. The casting of Cumberbatch was due to him being the best actor for the role and his brilliance in Sherlock and play Frankenstein. The full conversation can be read at Collider, below are a few choice quotes.

Doctor Who Actor Finds Wife for Trek Sequel

Entertainment Weekly has revealed that Nazneen Contractor will play the wife to Doctor Who's Noel Clarke in the Star Trek sequel that will start principle photography. The lovely Nazneen Contractor is probably most known in the States in the states for season 8 of 24. Exactly how much time these will have on screen is unknown but I am thinking these are minor speaking roles used to help setup the story much like the Kirk family was used in the first movie.

Big Bang's Galecki Talks George Takei

Last night Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki was a guest on a show. During the interview he spoke about working with Star Trek: The Original Series' George Takei (Sulu) for his cameo appearance and his "Shakespearean" delivery.

Cumberbatch Comments on Star Trek Casting

In a satellite appearance at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour to promote Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch commented on joining of the Star Trek sequel. He is rumored to be a villain and sadly attempts to get more information failed. Hopefully he is just teasing about the possibility of no Sherlock season 3.

Question: What’s it like to have been cast for the Star Trek sequel? What will you play, and how do you feel about J.J. Abrams choosing you?
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH: There’s a lawyer standing here saying that I can’t say anything. I’m hugely, hugely excited and I’m very, very flattered. I’m very, very excited, but obviously I’m not here to talk about that. I will, in the future, I’m sure. I’m just getting my head around the fact that it’s happened. If you’ll forgive me, I’ll pass on that. But, my headline is that I’m over the moon.

Sherlock and Doctor Who Companion Join Star Trek Sequel

I am seriously starting to think that JJ Abrams and company are as huge geeks as I am as they have tapped two BBC stars to join the cast of Star Trek 12. TrekMovie is reporting that Benedict Cumberbatch has been tapped to play a villain while Variety reports that Noel Clarke will play a "family man with a wife and young daughter."

Sci-fi and TV geeks will know Benedict Cumberbatch from his brilliant star making turn as Sherlock Holmes in BBC's Sherlock (now airing its second season, must see TV) and also cast as Smaug The Dragon in The Hobbit films. Noel Clarke played Mickey Smith in Doctor Who when it returned to the airwaves as the boyfriend of companion Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), occasionally joining them on their adventures kicking off the trio dynamic that has become the norm for the series.

AICN is guessing Cumberbatch has been cast as Harry Mudd. I dearly hope that theory is wrong as it would waste the actor and the character barely holds up in the series much less as a main villain in a big budget film. Could he be Bencio Del Toro's replacement as rumored role of Khan considering they both have the same physical attributes of height and shape?

Simon Pegg In LA for Star Trek Sequel

As a sign of just how close Star Trek 12 to starting principle photography, Simon Pegg (Scotty) has arrived in Los Angeles. Production on the film is rumored to start on January 15th, but assuming director J.J. Abrams maintains his usual love of secrets that is the most we will learn. The news comes via Simon Pegg's twitter account as he spoke about jet lag, saying "#Sherlock was awesome tonight. Can't believe I have to boldly go and miss the next two. My kingdom for a slingbox!"

I understand the heartbreak as the second season of Sherlock just started and the opening episode was outstanding (blows the movie version out of the water on 10th of the budget). The reason we know his purpose is because of an article from Chicago Sun-Times for Mission Impossible 4 where he said, "I’m preparing to fly out to L.A. in the new year and start working on “Star Trek.” I can’t wait to get back to it. I do love Scotty and it’s so much fun playing him. I love the way he was portrayed in the last film. Scotty is slightly annoyed. He has been abandoned on this planet. Now, he’s abroad the Enterprise looking after this big sexy ship." (via TrekMovie)