A new fan film series is in the works that looks to be great and of very high production values.  The fan series “Star Trek Continues” will show the original crew in adventures set during the time period of the original series with all the familiar and iconic Trek characters.  Here’s a bit more on this cool, upcoming web series:

Star Trek Continues is a new fan film which is trying to literally “continue” the five year mission of the USS Enterprise from the original Star Trek series. The new series is being led by Vic Mignogna, best known as a voice actor with leads in shows like Fullmetal Alchemist and Dragonball Z. Mignogna has cast himself as James T. Kirk and will even be directing. Star Trek Continues has partnered with Farragut Films (makers of the fan series Starship Farragut) and both groups are sharing stages at a 9600 square foot facility in Georgia. 

For the cast, Mignogna has brought in some other familiar faces, including James Doohan’s son Chris as Scotty, Kim Stinger (formerly of Star Trek: Phase 2) as Uhura, andMythbuster’s Grant Imahara as Sulu. The rest of the cast are filled out with experienced and trained actors, with Chuck Huber playing McCoy,  Wyatt Lenhart as Chekov and Todd Haberkorn as Spock. 

Recently the team wrapped up filming 2 short vignettes. These are currently being edited and will premiere at the Shore Leave convention in Baltimore (first weekend of August). The vignettes will also be made available online at the official site for the new series startrekcontinues.com.

You can also find them on Facebook HERE.  I’m really looking forward to seeing what these guys come up with.

Some recent pictures have revealed more of a uniform variation that we will be seeing in next Spring’s “Star Trek” movie.  There have been photos showing a little of this out for awhile now, but some new behind the scenes pics show a Starfleet uniform with a cap that has a simple olive drab or khaki style color.  The picture below features Simon Pegg (Scotty) and Anton Yelchin (Chekov) with young actress Anjini Azhar who plays a part in the film too.  You can also see her in another picture with Chris Pine who plays Kirk.  I like it when they add some variety to the costumes and look forward to seeing more of this look in the next movie.

The nearly flawless film, “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” celebrated it’s 30th Anniversary on June 4th of this week (originally released back in 1982).  I can still recall seeing this amazing and epic film in theaters several times that summer and it still gets my blood pumping to this day each time I see it.  The story, acting, look, sound, – just everything is nearly perfect in this amazing Trek film.  I’m not sure we will ever get another film that will top it for pure Trek geeky goodness and I’m so happy that we have a terrific Blu-Ray release now to enjoy anytime we wish.  You can learn a few interesting facts HERE about the movie you might now know and watch this newer, Blu-Ray trailer below for this great film!

To help celebrate season one of TNG coming out on Blu-Ray in July, we will get a chance to see two episodes from TNG of season one and a cool, behind the scenes spot in theaters on one day in July.  This is a very cool event and I hope everyone that can goes out to see it.  Check out below for more details and click HERE to buy your tickets now!

Get ready to re-buy that TNG collection all over again.  The first season of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” is coming to Blu-Ray in July.  These episodes have been recreated by going back to the original film stock and also new effects have been added in to the episodes too.  I’m very excited to be getting a hidef version of this great series finally on Blu-Ray.  Expect others seasons to follow soon.  Pre-order HERE or HERE.  Details below:

SET DETAILS

The STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION – THE FIRST SEASON Blu-ray set will be available in 1080p with English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Stereo Surround, French Mono, Japanese Mono and German Mono (with the exception of “Encounter at Farpoint” which is in German Stereo). The discs also include English SDH, French, German, Castilian, Italian, Japanese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish subtitles. The Blu-ray is not rated in the U.S. and rated PG in Canada.

The disc breakdown is as follows:

Disc One:
Episodes
• Encounter at Farpoint
• The Naked Now
• Code of Honor

Special Features
• Episodic Promos
• Energized! Taking The Next Generation to the Next Level (HD)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation Archives: The Launch
o Introduction to the Series (1987)
o Promo #1
o Promo #2
o Promo #3
o Season One Promo

Disc Two:
Episodes
• The Last Outpost
• Where No One Has Gone Before
• Lonely Among Us
• Justice
• The Battle

Special Features
• Episodic Promos

Disc Three:
Episodes
• Hide and Q
• Haven
• The Big Goodbye
• Datalore
• Angel One

Special Features
• Episodic Promos

Disc Four:
Episodes
• 11001001
• Too Short a Season
• When the Bough Breaks
• Home Soil
• Coming of Age

Special Features
• Episodic Promos

Disc Five:
Episodes
• Heart of Glory
• The Arsenal of Freedom
• Symbiosis
• Skin of Evil
• We’ll Always Have Paris

Special Features
• Episodic Promos

Disc Six:
Episodes
• Conspiracy
• The Neutral Zone

Special Features
• Episodic Promos
• Stardate Revisited: The Origin of Star Trek: The Next Generation (HD)
o Part 1: Inception
o Part 2: Launch
o Part 3: The Continuing Mission
• Gag Reel
• Archival Mission Logs
o The Beginning
o Selected Crew Analysis
o The Making of a Legend
o Memorable Missions

Over the weekend of May 31st – June 3rd you can see all five TV Captains in Philadelphia at Wizard World.  Quite a line up of guests attending, wish I could be there.  Hopefully some friend of the site and podcast can make it and send in a report.  This is becoming a rarity to get all these stars in one place so if you live nearby you should try and attend.  Read all about it below:

Sir Patrick Stewart To Attend 2012 Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con; Five ‘Star Trek’ Captains Appearing Together For First Time

Celebrated Actor Joins William Shatner, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula At Star-Studded Event Also Featuring Chris Hemsworth, Stan Lee, WWE® Superstar CM Punk™

NEW YORK and PHILADELPHIA, May 19, 2012 – Patrick Stewart, known to millions of fans as “Captain Jean-Luc Picard” on the television series “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and “Professor Charles Xavier” in the X-Men film series, will attend Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con, Stewart and Wizard World, Inc. announced today. He joins William Shatner (“Captain Kirk”), Avery Brooks (“Captain Sisko”), Kate Mulgrew (“Captain Janeway”) and Scott Bakula (“Captain Archer”) as captains of their respective series in the iconic franchise who will be special guests at the event, set for Thursday, May 31, through Sunday, June 3 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Stewart will appear at the event on Saturday.

Full story:  http://trekmovie.com/2012/05/19/all-5-star-trek-captains-to-appear-together-for-first-time-at-philadelphia-comic-con/

Con info:  http://www.wizardworldcomiccon.com/

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch who is playing main villain in the next “Star Trek” film (which has now completed shooting) spent some time recently at the beach in California.  The actor was working out pretty much “non-stop” to bulk up his physique for the role in the movie.  Reports have been floating on the internet for some time now about the role he is playing and the need to look somewhat “super-human” in the movie.  Well, what does everyone think?  Did he manage to get there?

Well, for about the last week the internet has been buzzing with some rumors about the next Trek movie (due to be released in one year in May, 2013).  Now, these rumors have popped up in a few places now and they all make sense and we are probably only a few days or maybe weeks from having these items confirmed by the studio and powers that work at Paramount.  But, as I stay up on these things I checked out what was being discussed.  Now, while these things tell us a little about the movie in general, I don’t think they are really spoilers for the movie as a whole and we certainly would know about all of these things well in advance of the movie coming out.  These are not big shocks or surprises for the movie itself, but rather give us an idea of the overall story and what it might involve – to a degree.  So, if you are curious, click the button below to learn what we are expecting to be included in the next Trek film.  Again, I think these items are not a huge shock or surprise but you decide for yourself if you want to read about them.  For now, nothing is official but I think all of the items you will find here will turn out to be true….