Bruce Greenwood Talks Trek Sequel Secret Keeping

Bruce Greenwood (Admiral Pike) commented to IFC about the motivation to keep as much of Star Trek sequel secret as possible. He also commented to Collider on his Pike role in the sequel by simply saying "wait to be revealed" on how much his Pike character will be in the film (if at all).

"So the audience can have an experience that isn’t complicated by having to pretend they don’t know what happens. It makes it trickier to conceal things so that when you see it for the first time you don’t know what’s coming, but that’s okay. You can’t blame people for being interested and excited, trying to find out. But everyone who’s involved in the film is committed to keeping it under wraps."

(via TrekMovie)

Cumberbatch Opens Olympics Coverage

In another sign of just how high the star of Benedict Cumberbatch is rising, the future big bad of Star Trek 2 and The Hobbit was the face and voice of BBC video that opened their coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games. It aired in the UK right before the opening ceremony. (via TrekMovie)

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season One Blu-ray Out Now

Sadly I remain persona non grata with Paramount (no idea why) so no advance review copy of today's release of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season One Blu-ray set. Since TrekMovie is not in the same boat as me, they do have a review here. To no surprise they loved the improved version of TNG with remastered footage, improved special effects and a ton of new extra material. Ain't It Cool News posted a kind of mini-review of some of that extra material here. As far as price currently Best Buy and Amazon has the best price at $59.99, half of the suggested retail cost and much lower then the previous sale price of $79.99. Considering I paid around $80 each for my now obsolete DVD season sets, it sounds like a good deal to me.

Sir Patrick Stewart Carries the Olympic Torch

Monday was an eventful day for Sir Patrick Stewart as he carried the Olympic torch through parts of Croydon, South London. The Olympics start this Friday. Below is a video of "Captain Picard" as he runs with the torch and after that is a BCC interview as he comments on the honor. For more videos, head over to TrekMovie. Congrats to all bearers, good luck London and this years Olympians.

Star Trek: TNG Blu-ray Release Interviews, New Trailer

This Tuesday is the release of Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season One Blu-ray set. The season set was remastered from the original film, re-edited together to duplicate the episodes with improved special effects, sound, and visuals. This is combined with a host of new extras and interviews that get into the details on what it took to create what would become television history. Below are highlights of interviews with Mike and Denise Okuda who talk about what was involved in creating this first season set. Also have an interview with Roger Lay, Jr. who was the producer of the special features in the set. After that is a new trailer that debuted at 2012 SDCC. Last is an impassioned defense by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson of the original USS Enterprise where he makes the compelling argument that it was the first amazing leap forward in sci-fi space ship design. Before the Enterprise, there was the flying saucer. After that, it just blew open, leading to all the other famous star ships of science fiction. Worth hitting the links below just to read the entire interviews.

Okudas Interview Highlights:

Space Shuttle Enterprise Exhibit Opens

The Space Shuttle Enterprise, the first prototype of the now retired Shuttle program, is now open to the public to see. Housed at Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City the large shuttle was named in 1976 after a write-in by Star Trek fans. (via startrek.com)

IDW October 2012 Star Trek Comics

IDW Publishing has released their publishing plans for October. The adventures of Doctor Who and the The Next Generation crew continues. The ongoing series ties back to the first movie by showing the origin of Scotty and his sidekick Keenser. Three comics and one book is being released that month. 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, TMNT, Transformers, Locke & Key and more click here.

Star Trek #14
Mike Johnson (w) • Stephen Molnar (a) • Tim Bradstreet (c)
The countdown to next summer’s blockbuster STAR TREK sequel continues here! Find out how Scotty and his alien sidekick Keenser first met in this in this all-new story overseen by STAR TREK writer/producer Roberto Orci!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Roberto Orci on Sequel Characters, Title, Trailer

In an interview with TrekMovie, Star Trek sequel writer/producer Roberto Orci shared a few tidbits about the upcoming movie. While not confirming anything specific, he did give an update on quest for a title, debunking Urban's Gary Mitchell rumor, and more. The two part interview is here and here, highlights below.

Highlights:
- Said would never lie when said in another interview a few weeks ago that Gary Mitchell is not in the movie.
- Fall is likely date for 1st teaser trailer.
- Have final list for official movie title but short list does contain two without "Star Trek"
- Canon characters: Alive Eve and Benedict Cumberbatch roles
- New characters: Noel Clark, Nanzeen Contractor, Peter Weller, Joseph Gatt roles
- First rough cut in about a month, still plenty to do with editing, visual effects, special effects, music, etc.
- Orci said that Paramount (Trek movie rights), CBS (Trek TV rights), and current Trek Supreme Court (Abrams, Orci, Kurtzman, etc.) have discussed (through intermediaries) the possibilities of a new Star Trek TV series depending on how ST2 does and plans for ST3. An animated TV show is a possibility. [Or to sum: lets talk next year if the film makes big bank.]
- For now, anything the ST Court works on can be considered canon but reserving the right to over ride it in the movies. So for now all comics, books, etc set in the 2.0 universe is all one universe. [So nothing really changes as Orci and co understand continuity anyway but might mean slightly more careful consideration in how things might connect when telling stories.]

TrekMovie.com: So how long will we not know who Benedict Cumberbatch is playing? How long will you guys try to not talk about it?
Roberto Orci: For as long as we can because of our belief that one of the fun things about Star Trek that distinguishes it from other franchises is that the story turns. It isn’t just the spectacle of Star Trek, not just the explosions and the battles, it is the plot. That is why we are so protective of plot and character with this particular franchise. In others that isn’t the case but in this one we can preserve the experience for some people of not knowing exactly until we get there. Will we succeed in keeping it under wraps? Probably not, but we will try it.

Damon Lindelof Talks Sequel Title

Star Trek sequel writer and producer Damon Lindelof discussed the sequel with MTV (video below) during the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con. Lindelof spoke about what seems to be the goal of finding a colon-less sequel title along the lines of "The Dark Knight", bridge crew friendship arc and that the gap between movies is "significantly less" then real world three years.

"There have been more conversations about what we’re going to call it than went into actually shooting it at this point. The normal, why can’t you just call it "Star Trek 2" because there is already a Star Trek II. That was the genius of Nolan. There was ‘Batman Begins,’ and now they’re just going to be the ‘Dark Knights’ and not going to have 2′s," It’s hard to do movies without colons. I’m not talking about the colon that’s in my body that I use for digestion…There’s no word that comes after the colon after ‘Star Trek’ that’s cool. Not that ‘Star Trek: Insurrection’ or ‘First Contact’ aren’t good titles, it’s just that everything that people are turned off about when it comes to ‘Trek’ is represented by the colon."

Star Trek #11, TNG/Doctor Who #3 Previews

Wednesday brings Star Trek #12 and Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 #3 to comic book stores. Star Trek 12 brings part one of "The Truth About Tribbles" which is the 2.0 take on the classic "Trouble With Tribbles" TOS episode. The TNG/Doctor Who #3 mini-series continues the current Doctor Who meeting the TNG cast as they face off against the Borg and Cybermen alliance. Click here for preview pages of both issues.

Star Trek #11
Mike Johnson (w) • Claudia Balboni (a) • Tim Bradstreet (c)
"The Truth About Tribbles!" Part 1! The countdown to next year’s blockbuster STAR TREK sequel continues here, as the crew of the Enterprise encounters the classic alien species in an ALL-NEW story! Inspired by the fan-favorite episode "The Trouble With Tribbles," this new two-part adventure is overseen by STAR TREK sequel writer/producer Roberto Orci!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Star Trek TNG/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 #3
Scott & David Tipton with Tony Lee (w) • J.K. Woodward (a) • Woodward, Elena Casagrande (c)
The two greatest science-fiction properties of all time cross over for the first time in history, in STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION/DOCTOR WHO: ASSIMILATION2! The true horror of the Borg-Cybermen alliance has been revealed, but what course of action will Captain Picard and the Doctor agree upon? And will the Doctor’s recently resurfaced memories shed new night on the dilemma?
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Star Trek at SDCC 2012

The 2012 San Diego Comic-Con has drawn to a close. The Star Trek reboot was not represented at SDCC but that has not stopped Trek past from showing up with booths, panels, products and cast signings. Really nothing movie news to report from the Con, but click the links below to see images and summary of events from each day of the convention.

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

SDCC 2012: Karl Urban's Star Trek Footage

As promised, Karl Urban has posted his Star Trek 2 footage for the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con. It does seem he was having fun with fans as the video is ..umm an interesting choice as most of it shows Urban surfing. As the very end (3:26 point, see below), he added a phone camera recording of what is likely a little moment to mark the last day of shooting. The brief moment shows director JJ Abrams, Assistant Director Tommy Gormley and Cinematographer Dan Mindel as they each hold objects used for various special effects, color correction and the like. For example, the shiny ball is used to record reflects so can be added to a CGI object to give that extra level of realism.

SDCC 2012 Karl Urban Teases Possible Trek Footage

Karl Urban might just be becoming a useful source for Star Trek info, or at least he enjoys pretending to release related info. Last week he might have accidently revealed the villain of the sequel. In a new interview with ComingSoon to promote Dredd, he said "I can promise you that before the end of [2012 San Diego] Comic-Con, some exclusive Star Trek footage, it's going to come out. You're going to find it. It's going to come out." This is despite Paramount's decision to skip SDCC. It would seem to be a wasted opportunity to not release something.

He also commented on the villain slip saying "I'm really not at liberty to discuss anything about Star Trek. All I can say is that I did that interview after a 22-hour flight from New Zealand. I literally hopped off the plane into the interview." The info has not yet been officially confirmed however.

Star Trek 2 Villain Is...?

Karl Urban (Dr. McCoy) may have accidently let slip to SFX who the main villain of Star Trek 2 is while doing marathon interviews to promote his movie Dredd. In the interview he said spoke of Trek and Benedict Cumberbatch saying "He’s awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his Gary Mitchell is going to be exemplary."

Gary Mitchell was a character in the original series 2nd pilot episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Mitchell was a long time friend of Kirk's who was also a crew member on the Enterprise. When the Enterprise attempts to cross the galactic barrier (border between our universe and space to next universe), Mitchell and Dr. Elizabeth Dehner where given mental capabilities that grew in power with every moment. As if to prove the phrase "absolute power corrupts absolutely", the more power Mitchell had, the more corrupt he became until his humanity began to slip away. In a final struggle with Kirk and Dehner on a planet surface, both near gods were killed.

Kre-O Star Trek Trailer

Hasbro and JJ Abrams' Bad Robot has released a new trailer to promote their Kre-O line of Star Trek products. The line, which is based on Lego, was kicked off last year with Transformers and expanded this year with Battleship. If the trailer below seems familiar, it is because it mimics the teaser trailer for Star Trek (2009). The line will hit stores in Spring 2013 but the first wave of play sets will be on display at the San Diego Comic-Con next week. Weird how the CGI saucer section of the Enterprise looks great but the Kre-O version seems too small and disproportionate.

Okudas Talk TNG Season One Blu-Ray Extras

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season One Blu-ray release is now less than a month away. As part of that, there will likely be more articles about the making of the series and the creation of the new re-mastered set. In this article, Star Trek experts (the things Trek they have done is long, varied, and would make you green with envy) Mike and Denise Okuda talk a little bit about how some of the effects were re-created for the Blu-ray edition. In specific they talk about the main-title sequence with the quick look at the Observation Lounge where can see "people" moving about. It turns that what seems like a piece of high tech CGI work is really as low tech as you can get with the use of simple pencil drawings. The tech comes in re-mastering the footage while retaining that original quality. The full discussion is at StarTrek.com, a few snippets below.