Bill & Leonard in Vegas!

Last weekend’s big, annual “Star Trek” con out in Vegas really was loaded with Trek stars.  And of course, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy were there to celebrate Trek and show again what good friends they are both on screen and off.  There looked to be some great panels and discussions about the recent film and other topics with loads of other guests.  You can visit HERE to learn more and get some links to more picks with Zachary Quinto and other stars.  One of these years I will get there and see this con in Vegas.  Maybe around the time of the next movie – hopefully.

Great Trek movie video!

Once in awhile I like to spotlight some really great, and creative work.  I stumbled across this most excellent music video featuring clips from the recent “Star Trek” movie.  I really like how this was put together.  It’s paced well and the music really fits (by Sirenia – Lost in Life).  You can also view it in HD if you click the Youtube logo and go there to watch.  Share it with your friends too.  Great stuff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo8Kwq82cnM

New Trek Animated Adventures

A fan based film series has now gone animated with the continuing adventures of the Starship Farragut and her crew.  While they used to do live action fan films, they now have moved to animation in the style of the old 1970’s era Trek cartoon by Filmation.  Done in the same style, with similar music and overall look, it’s fun to see this type of animation again – especially in the days of CGI.  So check out the first Act below or visit their website HERE.

“Star Trek” movie coming on Nov. 17th

The recent hit “STAR TREK” film will be warping to home theaters everywhere on November 17th, just a few months away.  Even though it is still playing in some theaters, a DVD and Blu-Ray release is now set for this latest Trek film which did so well at the box office and has brought new life to the Trek franchise.  Multiple versions of the film will be available.  Read below to find out more:

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (July 17, 2009) – This year audiences thrilled at the triumphant voyage of the Starship Enterprise and her young and vibrant crew in movie theaters across the planet — and on November 17, 2009, the world will go where no one has gone before when STAR TREK debuts as a three-disc Blu-ray with digital copy, two-disc DVD with digital copy and a single-disc DVD from Paramount Home Entertainment.  Bursting with “spectacular action” (Hollywood Reporter) and “pure filmmaking exhilaration” (Rolling Stone) director J.J. Abrams’ sensational reinvention of the “Star Trek” franchise was hailed by critics and embraced by long-time and new fans alike, earning over $375 million at the worldwide box office.  Starring a hot young cast including Chris Pine (Carriers), Zachary Quinto (”Heroes”), Zoe Saldana (Avatar), Karl Urban (The Bourne Supremacy), John Cho (Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle), Anton Yelchin (Terminator Salvation) and Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead), the global smash hit also features seasoned actors such as Eric Bana (Munich), Bruce Greenwood (National Treasure: Book of Secrets), Winona Ryder (Girl, Interrupted) and the original Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy.

“I cannot wait for fans of Star Trek to check out the home entertainment release of the film.  The behind-the-scenes features on the DVD — and especially the Blu-ray — give a wonderful look at the crazy hard work and incredible fun that went into making this movie,” said J.J. Abrams.  “The cast and crew were truly extraordinary to work with — watching these special features, you’ll see why.  And for people who didn’t catch Star Trek in the theater, I hope they do now, as Paramount has done an exceptional job with this release; the picture and sound quality are both excellent.”

The STAR TREK DVD and Blu-ray will boast out-of-this-world special features to take viewers even further into the new universe of the rousing space adventure.  The two-disc DVD and three-disc Blu-ray include in-depth explorations of the reimagining of the franchise, the phenomenal cast, the spectacularly real action sequences, the powerful score and the captivating aliens, commentary by J.J. Abrams, the writers and producers, a gag reel and a digital copy of the film.  Additionally, the discs feature compelling deleted scenes that reveal a side story involving Nero with a first-ever look at Abrams’ version of the infamous warrior Klingons.

The STAR TREK Blu-ray boldly ventures beyond the final frontier with over three hours of sensational bonus footage including branching pods that allow for enhanced exploration, more fascinating features on the starships, planets, props, costumes and sound of STAR TREK, as well as a Starfleet Vessel Simulator and access to the latest NASA news about real-life space exploration via BD-Live.

The two-disc DVD and three-disc Blu-ray will also offer a home entertainment first: groundbreaking augmented reality technology.  Using a webcam, a Star Trek visual cue will morph into a 3D holographic tour of the U.S.S. Enterprise on the screen, providing a unique immersive and interactive experience.

DVD:

The STAR TREK two-disc DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 televisions with Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 5.1 Surround and Spanish 5.1 Surround with English, French and Spanish subtitles.  Special features are as follows:

Disc 1:

  • Commentary — By director J.J. Abrams, writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Bryan Burk.
  • A New Vision — J.J. Abrams’ vision was not only to create a Star Trek that was a bigger, more action-packed spectacle, but also to make the spectacle feel real.  Every aspect of production — from unique locations to the use of classic Hollywood camera tricks — was guided by this overall objective.
  • Gag Reel — Bloopers featuring the entire principal cast.

Disc 2:

  • Digital Copy
  • Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary
    • Spock Birth
    • Klingons Take Over Narada
    • Young Kirk, Johnny and Uncle Frank
    • Amanda and Sarek Argue After Spock Fights
    • Prison Interrogation and Breakout
    • Sarek Gets Amanda
    • Dorm Room and Kobayashi Maru (original version)
    • Kirk Apologizes to the Green Girl
    • Sarek Sees Spock
  • To Boldly Go — Taking on the world’s most beloved science fiction franchise was no small mission. Director J.J. Abrams, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, producer Damon Lindelof, and executive producer Bryan Burk talk about the many challenges they faced and their strategy for success.
  • Casting — The producers knew their greatest task was finding the right cast to reprise these epic roles. The cast, for their part, talk about the experience of trying to capture the essence of these mythic characters. The piece concludes with a moving tribute to Leonard Nimoy.
  • Aliens — Designers Neville Page and Joel Harlow talk about the hurdles they faced creating new alien species, recreating the Romulans and Vulcans, and designing the terrifying creatures on Delta Vega for the new Star Trek.
  • Score — As a fan of the original series, composer Michael Giacchino embraced the challenge of creating new music for Star Trek while preserving the spirit of Alexander Courage’s celebrated theme.
  • DVD-Rom:
    • STAR TREK D-A-C Free Trial Game for XBOX 360
    • Weblink to the STAR TREK D-A-C Free Trial Game for PC
    • Weblink to the STAR TREK D-A-C Free Trial Game for PlayStation Network

The STAR TREK single-disc DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 televisions with Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 5.1 Surround and Spanish 5.1 Surround with English, French and Spanish subtitles.  The single-disc DVD includes the commentary, “A New Vision” and the gag reel.

BLU-RAY

The STAR TREK three-disc Blu-ray is presented in 1080p High Definition with English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital with English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles.  Special features are as follows:

Disc 1:

  • Commentary — By director J.J. Abrams, writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Bryan Burk.
  • NASA News — This BD-Live feature gives viewers access to the latest NASA news about real space exploration.  Learn about new mission developments and check out featured imagery from around the universe.

Disc 2:

  • To Boldly Go — See description above.
    • Branching Pods:
      • The Shatner Conundrum
      • Red Shirt Guy
      • The Green Girl
      • Trekker Alert!
  • Casting — See description above.
  • A New Vision — See description above.
    • Branching Pods:
      • Savage Pressure
  • Starships — Abrams and production designer Scott Chambliss were careful to pay tribute to the design of the original Enterprise, but they also wanted to make it futuristic and cool for a modern audience. This chapter focuses on the unique stories behind the creation of the film’s starships.
    • Branching Pods:
      • Warp Explained
      • Paint Job
      • Bridge Construction Accelerated
      • The Captain’s Chair
      • Button Acting 101
      • Shuttle Shuffle
      • Narada Construction Accelerated
  • Aliens — See description above.
    • Branching Pods:
      • The Alien Paradox
      • Big-Eyed Girl
      • Big Bro Quinto
      • Klingons
      • Drakoulias Anatomy 101
  • Planets — From the frozen landscape of Delta Vega to the desert plains of Vulcan, Scott Chambliss and the art department had a number of radically different planets to create. Abrams’ desire to shoot on real locations whenever possible led the production team to a number of strange and surprising locations.
    • Branching Pods:
      • Extra Business
      • Confidentiality
  • Props and Costumes — Property master Russell Bobbitt had the unique challenge of designing props that were both true to the original series and pertinent to today’s technology.  Likewise, costume designer Michael Kaplan talks about how he designed costumes that paid homage to what came before yet were relevant and timeless.
    • Branching Pods:
      • Klingon Wardrobe
  • Ben Burtt and the Sounds of Star Trek — When famed sound designer Ben Burtt was hired to create sounds for the first Star Wars film, he took his inspiration from the original “Star Trek” series. Burtt jumped at the opportunity to pay tribute to the sounds that sparked his career with the sounds he created for the new Star Trek.
  • Score — See description above.
  • Gene Roddenberry’s Vision J.J. Abrams, Leonard Nimoy, previous Star Trek writers and producers, and scientific consultant Carolyn Porco describe and commend the optimistic and enduring vision of Gene Roddenberry.
  • Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary — See details above.
  • Starfleet Vessel Simulator — Explore extensive data on the U.S.S. Enterprise and the Romulan ship, the Narada. Submerse yourself in breathtaking 360° views and close-ups and review detailed tech information.
  • Gag Reel — See description above.

Disc 3:

  • Digital Copy
  • STAR TREK D-A-C Free Trial Game for XBOX 360
  • Weblink to the STAR TREK D-A-C Free Trial Game for PC
  • Weblink to the STAR TREK D-A-C Free Trial Game for PlayStation Network

STAR TREK

Street date: November 17, 2009
Runtime: 127 minutes
U.S. Rating: PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence and brief suggestive content
Canadian Rating: PG for violence

“Ships of the Line” Calendar

For the past several years, a very cool calendar has come out featuring ships from “Star Trek” called, ‘Ships of the Line.’  This always contains some great images and artwork featuring some amazing stuff.  This year’s version looks to be better than ever.  Artist Doug Drexler has done many of the images and more can be seen HERE besides the samples I’m showing you now.  Make sure to pick up your calendar when they go on sale in a few weeks.  Order your copy at Amazon right now!

Taylor Swift in “Star Trek”

It seems everyone is jumping on the “Star Trek” movie bandwagon these days.  Country music star Taylor Swift at the CMT awards recently opened the show with a fun little spoof where she says one of her “dreams” is to be in the new “Star Trek” movie.  And dreams do come true, so watch Taylor in the movie along with some other dreams she has HERE or click and view it below (volume is low on the clip below, use the link to view it in better quality).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWCSb2TrPz0

“The Final Frontier” – 20 years old

Back in June of 1989, “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” first premiered in theaters.  While this might not be the greatest Trek movie ever, I still feel it has much to enjoy in it.  There is a lot of nice location work, and who could forget the campfire scenes with Kirk, Spock and McCoy.  I like the emotional feel to this movie and I think it’s worthy of being called, “Star Trek.”  The picture above is taken from a press conference they had on the set with the cast.  So, dust off your DVD copy of this movie and give it another look.  Enjoy it and toast them – I know I’m going to do just that!

Artists for the new Trek film

Two artists contributed a lot to the look of things in the new “Star Trek” film, now playing in theaters.  Both of them worked on ship designs, pre-production images, aliens, planet vistas and so forth.  The first one, Ryan Church designed many of the ships for the new movie and other things as well – including the new Enterprise look.  Here are a couple of Ryan’s art images for the film:

The other artist is named James Clyne.  He did much of the work for the look of Vulcan, and also some ship design things like the look of the Kelvin bridge (below).  Both of these artists are very talented and gave the new “Star Trek” a fresh and very distinctive look.