Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 18, 2008 in Star Trek
It was only a few days ago that I was so excited to hear that Majel Barrett-Roddenberry would be doing the voice of the computer in Star Trek XI and now I’m sad to say that this looks to be her last film:
“Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the widow of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry who nurtured the legacy of the seminal science fiction TV series after his death, has died. She was 76. Roddenberry died of leukemia Thursday morning at her home in Bel-Air, said Sean Rossall, a family spokesman. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 12, 2008 in Star Trek
You know even if he doesn’t have an overpaid one minute cameo in Star Trek XI William Shatner is doing a brilliant job of promoting himself lately while pushing his talk show into the spotlight in the process. The above video is an example of this Shatnermnaia in the wild from thinkhero.com. And you want to know something? Oprah look out because the real Captain James T. Kirk is no slacker!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 11, 2008 in Star Trek
According to Variety it looks like Majel Barrett-Roddenberry will be returning to Star Trek XI to resume her role as the voice of the Enterprise computer system! Although I wish they gave her an on screen cameo relating to her original role as Nurse Chapel, however to me this is a sign that J.J. Abrams is getting things right.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 4, 2008 in Star Trek, Tech
So the other day I was going on how the USS Kelvin had just started following me on Twitter to promote their trivia contest for Star Trek XI (which is sponsored by Intel and Lenovo) and of course I had to lament that while the contest was cool and all — what was really needed was a Trek themed laptop. So it was with much pleasure today that I found out that not only is this the case, but the sweet folks at contest just sent me a sneak preview photo of the laptop itself. For now my guess is for now that this goodie is just a sweepstakes prize, but man would I love to see something like this for sale in the stores…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 3, 2008 in Star Trek
There was a time not so long ago where I seemed to be doing nothing but covering every marketing scheme and merchandisable goodie that the George Lucas empire would produce — and looking back on it to my amazement I actually lamented Paramount’s inability to do anything with Star Trek. But then J.J. Abrams came along and changed all that in no time!
The evidence of this came face-to-face to me today as I suddenly noticed that one of my new followers on Twitter was the USS Kelvin: My first reaction was that this was just a fanboy with a cool icon, but them upon checking out the tweets it turns out to be a Star Trek XI trivia contest sponsored by Intel and Lenovo. Needless to say the contest looks pretty cool, but I’d wish they’d take even a step further and customize those IdeaPad laptops with a Star Trek theme.
You know what I want for Christmas? I want William Shatner to have a guest spot in the upcoming Star Trek XI film! But if I can’t get that instead I’ll gladly settle for this old school Star Trek Phaser and Communicator Set from ThinkGeek. The phaser has the nice touch of including an overload setting that is followed by an exploding sound effect (or as my computer programming friends would say “If it’s not a bug it’s a feature!”). The communicator is also cool as it features 20 fanboy friendly phrases like “Spock here, Captain”, “Scotty here, Captain” and my personal favorite “Transporter room ready to beam up”.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 25, 2008 in Star Trek
Yes it’s the very same Star Trek XI trailer that you’ve been watching again and again for a week now — but this time J.J. Abrams added some extra special secret sauce: Leonard Nimoy as Spock!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 24, 2008 in Star Trek
I can’t guarantee that this film is going to be any good, but one thing is for certain: J.J. Abrams is a marketing genius! And being a Star Trek fanboy that’s a good thing because one does worry how long you can make the series last. There was a time a few months ago where I would bemoan the fact that Lucas was so much better at pushing Star Wars than Paramount was with Star Trek, but with J.J. on the case I no longer have to worry about that: Read more…
Posted by Guest Author on Nov 24, 2008 in Star Trek
Editor’s Note: Today we have a special treat for all Star Trek fanboys (which includes myself). Our good friend Joe Strike gives us a behind scenes report of the recent Star Trek XI preview:
Paramount sneaks us a peek at… ‘Slash Trek’!
I put on the freebie Star Trek t-shirt I picked up at Comicon ‘07, the one that says ‘12-26-08′ on the back and went to see Paramount shake their big sci-fi moneymaker – the return, after a blessed multi-year respite, Star Trek. The lure (apart from free popcorn, soda and a big bag of candy): a quartet of scenes from its May ‘09 guaranteed blockbuster or, as the studio exec introduced it, “a great re-invention of a classic American franchise.” (Well, at least he didn’t call it a brand.)
Director/producer J.J. Abrams, he of Cloverfield and Mission: Impossible 3 ‘fame,’ intro’d the quartet of clips. (Cloverfield sucked, by the way, but you probably figured that out on your own.) “I’ve never been a Star Trek fan,’ JJA all but boasted. (Evidently he’s been doing this at every press opportunity.) “I never got it,” sez he, because as a grade-schooler he couldn’t figure out whether he identified with Spock or Kirk (Me, I was always more of a ‘David Vincent’ fan, Roy Thinnes’ character on the contemporaneous Larry Cohen sci-fi/paranoia series The Invaders.) Now however, and just in the nick of time, he’s “become a Trekker,” just to let everyone know he’s hip enough not to say ‘Trekkie.’ Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 22, 2008 in Star Trek
Star Trek XI won’t be out for months but I already feel like I’ve seen the whole thing! The latest chapter in the hype express includes two new character posters — one of Uhura and the other of Nero the Romulan villain of the film. I already get a bad feeling from the fact that Nero is sporting a tattoo, but I hope the producers don’t make the classic Darth Maul mistake and introduce a cool bad guy only kill him off by the end of the film. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 22, 2008 in Star Trek
By the way what kills me is that they’re bringing in Nimoy as the elder Spock via a silly time travel plot device — there’s no reason they couldn’t have thrown in William Shatner into that scene too!
