STAR TREK MOVIE

The Yorkshire Post recently did an interview with actor Patrick Stewart. Since Stewart portrayed Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek The Next Generation, they decided to get his reaction to the new Start Trek Movie:

He might want to leave it there, but given he spent seven years playing Captain Picard, what did he think of the 21st-century version of Star Trek?

"I loved it. I absolutely loved it," he proclaims. "It was a very, very odd experience to be in the cinema watching a new Star Trek movie that I wasn't in. Not only that, but with the exception of Leonard Nimoy I didn't know any of the cast... but, it's Star Trek. They've taken some quite innovative decisions but it's absolutely essential, right down the middle Star Trek. I got a great kick out of it."

Patrick Stewart also had kind words for Chris Pine, the actor playing the young Cadet, then Captain Kirk.

"He's brilliant. He is charming, truthful, funny and utterly delightful."

Herb Solow story on BBC

Herb Solow who worked with Gene Roddenberry to develop Star Trek for Desilu Studios talks about his reaction to the Star Trek Movie

Does the new movie prequel live up to the hopes and aspirations of the people behind the original television series?

In the 1960s as head of a film studio in California Herb Solow commissioned the Star Trek TV show, so BBC Online asked him for his opinion.

In the years 1964 and 1965, the Star Trek world consisted of but two people: Gene Roddenberry and myself. It was a very small world.

For the first time in 45 years I entered the fictional prequel of that world - that Star Trek world I developed, sold, executive-produced, oversaw and kept alive as long as I could.

I was Head of Desilu Studios (later bought by Paramount), charged with creating and developing successful television series for the struggling studio owned by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz of I Love Lucy fame (hence Desi-Lu).

Star Trek was the first project I commissioned. Mission:Impossible was the second. Happily, lightening struck twice.

When Gene Roddenberry made an appointment with me 45 years ago, he came into my office with one sheet of paper.

From this unlikely source, the entire franchise was born. In the two years that followed, I made a lot of changes to that piece of paper - and added to it considerably.

I changed Spock from a red-skinned fairly sinister alien with a pointed tail into the intellectually superior, green-blooded Vulcan he is today.

I named characters, developed Starfleet, talked with Gene about the need to infuse the series with a purpose. I created the idea of the Captain's log, to set up each episode, and a thousand other things. Gene had a great idea. He didn't have a saleable idea until we developed the pilot.

We made the Star Trek pilot and created our Star Trek universe for £509,000 ($825,000.) Paramount has spent a reported £92,486,000 ($150,000,000) to create theirs. We eventually found success with our universe.

As I walked into the silent theatre to preview the new Star Trek film, I wondered if Paramount would be successful with its costly endeavour.

I knew that Paramount could not go too far afield with Star Trek if for no other reason than the vocal and box office strength of the largest, most loyal and concentrated fan base in television history. But, nonetheless, I was concerned.
I entered the theatre and the Star Trek world with a mission: to determine if this new Star Trek beginning had done justice to the future we invented.

I was joined by my wife, Harrison, who, as many fans know, is the author (under a different name) of Gene Roddenberry: The Last Conversation and is well versed in the later Star Trek world as well as an authority on its philosophy and science-fiction in general which she teaches at a British university.

Many questions were foremost in my mind. In this 'prequel' would I find a world that could have existed before we created and developed it? Would I meet our real characters before we invented them? Would they grow into the characters I 'hired?'
Happily, the screen was bright and large, the sound system was state of the art - producing a full, balanced and plentiful resonance.

127 minutes later and the deed was done. I had seen the past and it worked. Still, I had a few questions.

The production looked flawless. The photography, graphics and sound effects were brilliant. But, was it our Star Trek? I had some reservations.

The assembling of the new team was interesting and, for the most part set a genuine tone for the characters. Most of the characters rang true.

I really enjoyed finally meeting the young Kirk, the young McCoy, the young Scotty and the young Uhura, though I found the young Chekov a bit more hyper than we envisioned him to be.

He was originally to be a rather plodding Russian astronaut with no sense of humour. But this young Chekov was much more lively and a bit of a caricature.

The young Sulu was of particular interest. Sulu was my namesake. Gene Roddenberry wanted to call him Solo - long before Han Solo made an appearance on screen, but we later changed it (my request!) to Sulu.

I was a little disappointed in this performance. The original actor, George Takei, played the character with more grace and charm infused into his austerity.
All this said, our original characters grew and developed as we produced more and more television episodes.

Given the new talent and ability at the Enterprise helm, I have to believe the characters will grow in range and depth as their movie and/or television adventures continue and the actors develop in their roles. I have to applaud them all.

I was impressed and taken with the obvious concern to honour our original series.
Not only in dealing with a familiar vengeful antagonist similar to the original series, but the little touches: the phasers, McCoy's electronic medical scanner (originally a battery-operated salt grinder from a Hollywood department store,) the weaving of the original Enterprise captain, Captain Pike, into the story and (discounting the first series pilot with Jeffrey Hunter playing Captain Pike) setting a precedent for his appearing in our original series in a wheelchair.

The set up for Sulu's fencing prowess was a very nice touch. The director and writers certainly did their homework.

I missed Sandy Courage's theme. It was saved for the very end of the film as the now complete young Enterprise crew looked toward their future.

I've saved my Spock reaction for the final comment. The Mr Spock character was 20% created by Gene Roddenberry, 20% created by me and 60% created by Leonard Nimoy.

The young Mr Spock was certainly commendable. But I missed the depth of Leonard's Spock, and the centuries of knowledge that always lurked in his eyes.
The single most emblematic phrase of our original series is 'Live Long and Prosper'.

I hope the new series of movies will have that long life, and that Star Trek will continue to prosper.

Star Trek has been reborn, like a Phoenix from the ashes. Through a very clever plot device, director J.J. Abrams and his writers have managed to bring us a brand new Star Trek that is free from the limitations of the history of the original Star Trek and its many spinoffs, yet managed to keep firmly Star Trek.

For the Non Star Trek Fan:

If you like action you'll love this movie. It's fast paced. Two hours sped by much too quickly. My best friend who has never seen any Star Trek either the television series or movies went with me. He enjoyed it thoroughly, laughed at the humorous moments and said he was taking his family to see it. I give you his reaction because I am a life long Star Trek fan and I'm not sure how someone unfamiliar with Trek lore would react to it.

There were obviously little pieces - generally statements or the way something was said or done that impacted fans more than non-fans because fans know the history.

But those little touches are there just to remind us fans this is Star Trek. The story doesn't hinge on them.

This story does not require that you know Star Trek or Star Trek lore to enjoy it. It's fairly easy to follow, regardless of whether you know Star Trek or not.

In essence We have an alien who's planet was destroyed. He decides to take his vengeance on a massive scale. The Heroes, Kirk, Spock and others have to stop him.
They have great special effects thanks to Industrial Light and Magic (the folks who bring us special effects from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and a bunch of other big movies) and lots of action. My friend who went with me said it ended way too soon%u2026 he wanted more. I think you'll find that you like the characters and may even get drawn into the developing friendship between Kirk and Spock.

For the Star Trek Fan:

While what has gone on before does not dictate what will happen in this new variation of Star Trek, Abrams has remained true to the essence or spirit of Star Trek and to the integrity of most of the characters. I am convinced that we will have the opportunity to enjoy the ride again, not knowing where this new variation will take us.

The directing and action is fast paced. This movie is over two hours long and it didn't feel like it at all. I was very disappointed that it seemed to end far too quickly.

The story: In the future, a much older Spock tries to help the Romulans avoid a catastrophe and fails. One Romulan blames him. The result of the catastrophe actually brings both Spock and the Romulan ship back in time but to different points in time. When the Romulan ship appears, it results in the death of James Kirk's father, impacting the way he was reared. So the new Kirk in his basic makeup is the same Kirk we know and love, yet different because his life experiences were different. The Romulan waits twenty five years to extract his revenge on Spock and the Federation.

Let's just say that one of the races that we Star Trek fans love is almost entirely wiped out by the actions of this Romulan - further changing the time line, and I am convinced introducing events that will radically impact Spock as well. In the end our brave crew manages to prevent the destruction of Earth and the rest of the Federation.

It was an absolute joy to see Leonard Nimoy reprise his role as the Spock that Star Trek fans know and love and when he tells Kirk that "I am and always will be your friend," the connection to the original became very tangible. For those who watch who are not familiar with it, this was Spock's line to Kirk just before he died in Star Trek II.

Kirk's character has already undergone some changes. I suspect, we will see this Spock develop a little differently as well. He will almost certainly be free of much of the Vulcan heritage he had embraced and I believe will be more free to embrace his humanity. We'll see about that.

Frankly, I'm not sure that the new Uhura worked for me. She is cocky (that's OK), she has a thing for Spock (OK too - I guess), but when she was trying to "comfort" him at a couple of points in the movie, she came off way too close to a seductress. To me, Uhura was always a very classy person and I felt the way she was portrayed in this instance cheapened the character (though maybe not as much as the dance scene in Star Trek V.)

I think I was most impressed with Chris Pine as Kirk and Karl Urban as McCoy. Without, doing impressions, they managed to make the characters their own in ways that made you comfortable and believe that this was Kirk and McCoy. It was actually a little eerie.

I am looking forward to the next movie in this franchise and hope that this new cast and crew Live Long and Prosper.

Randy Pauch, professor and alumnus of Carnegie Mellon University had a small role in Star Trek. The Professor became famous, when in September of 2007 he delivered a Last Lecture at his school. Randy had been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer ane was given only six months to live.

His lecture became a Best selling book where he shared his joy of life. He refused to letthe diagnosis of his disease and it's terminal nature prevent him from living life to the fullest. Randy likens himself to Tigger of Winnie the Pooh.

Randy's career biography is substantial and in itself would be enough to put him in the Star Trek universe.

"Pausch was an assistant and associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Virginia's School of Engineering and Applied Science from 1988 until 1997. While there, he completed sabbaticals at Walt Disney Imagineering and Electronic Arts (EA). In 1997, Pausch became Associate Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design, at Carnegie Mellon University. He was a co-founder in 1998, along with Don Marinelli,
of CMU's Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), and he started the Building Virtual Worlds course at CMU and taught it for 10 years. He consulted with Google on user interface design and also consulted with PARC, Imagineering, and Media Metrix. Pausch is also the founder of the Alice software project. He was a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator and a Lilly Foundation Teaching Fellow. Pausch was the author or co-author of five books and over 70 articles.

Pausch received two awards from ACM in 2007 for his achievements in computing education: the Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award and the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science Education. He was also inducted as a Fellow of the ACM in 2007."

Randy discussed his life and his philosophy of life in a lively, fun filled presentation called "The Last Lecture" a year after he was diagnosed with cancer.

One of the things he always wanted to do was play Captain Kirk. J.J. Abrams emailed him.

JJ Abrams wrote:
> Dear Randy --
>
> Hi there -- I'm JJ Abrams, director of the new Star Trek movie.
>
> I read about you and your condition, and ALSO your affinity for things
> Trek.
>
> So, I just wanted to put the invitation out there -- that if you had
> any desire to be in the film (can't promise you role as CAPTAIN,
> but... we could do SOMETHING!), it would be my honor and pleasure.
>
> The last thing I want to do is intrude, so feel free not to reply --
> but I wanted to make sure you knew that, if you are willing and able,
> the door is wide open.
>
> I hope that your treatments are going well and that we get to meet one
> day.
>
> Best,
>
> JJ

JJ Abrams was true to his word. Randy had the opportunity to be part of the bridge crew of the USS Kelvin. He had one line "Captain, We have visual." but he made one of Randy's dreams come ture. On his website Randy described the experience.

"Naturally, I presumed this was one of my friends, playing a prank. But after a little sleuthing, it was clear it was for real. Jai & I hopped a plane to LA, where I got a custom-made Star Trek uniform and my own station on the bridge, where I had lots of buttons and controls. I even got a LINE!!!!

In addition to publicly thanking JJ Abrams, I just wanted to say what an incredibly egoless and cool guy he was. We chatted a little bit between takes, and he is so tech-savvy (and I'm not saying that *just* because he knew all about Alice!).
Anyway, it was a truly magical experience. Speaking of Magic, I got to fulfill a long-standing wish of taking Jai to the Magic Castle on that trip, courtesy of Peter Farquar. MK Haley, who is herself quite magical, joined Peter and his wife and Jai & me for an incredible evening.

The "Star Trek" movie will be in theaters December 2008. Don't blink or you'll miss me, but at some point a guy walked across the bridge and say
s "Captain, we have visual!"

I'd *love* to show you my costume (which they let me keep), but I promised JJ Abrams "no photos". They're trying to keep things a secret; in fact, even on the Paramount lot, you have to walk around in a trenchcoat if you're in a Star Trek costume. It's kind of like being at aflasher's convention!"

Randy passed away July 25, 2008, and unfortunately did not live long enough to see the movie.

There is a link to the Last Lecture at Carnegie Mellon University's site here:
Randy Pauch "The Last Lecture"  Carnegie Mellon University
Interestingly, another Carnegie Mellon alum also appeared in Star Trek, Zachary Quinto, who is the new Spock.

When Star Trek was on originally it was a modern morality tale looking at today's issues through another lens. The Cold War was in full swing and the Federation had it's commies ...errr Klingons that is. They dealt with issues of race. The Enterrprise had an international crew. There was a commie...errr Russian - Pavel Chekov, There was also a Scotsman, an African, an American of Japanese descent, a Southern American, and an alien (well at least half alien.)

The first episodic television interracial kiss took place on Star Trek between Kirk and Uhura, though it was forced.

Star Trek is about people and the three people at the center of this journey have always been James Kirk (the Captain), Commander Spock (serving as both First Officer and Chief Science Officer) and Leonard McCoy (Chief Medical Officer)

Spock represented the scientific, rational, logical side of the argument on issues. He could give facts, the odds, statistics. McCoy (or Bones as he was nicknamed) represented the human side of the argument involving emotions, compassion, concern. Kirk was the center. The Enterprise was often out toward the rim of the Galaxy, where communications with Starfleet could take weeks. As a starship captain, Kirk was governor, chief ambassador, and the commander and chief of a mighty weapon of war in the region of space he was patrolling. Sometimes civilizations hung in the balance based on what Kirk did or did not do.

The original series and the movies never explored how Kirk, Spock, and McCoy met. What led to this lifelong friendship between these men? This movie will answer some of those questions. It is also appears that Kirk and Spock got off to something of a rocky start.

I'm looking forward to watching the character development and the friendship of these characters develop through this movie and the already announced sequel- an hopefully many more to come.

Burger King has started a new promotion to celebrate the Star Trek Movie. They have a set for four glasses. Each glass highlights a different character, Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and Nero

Burger King has also created the Klingon Defense Academy to help cadets learn to protect themselves from the Klingons who would try to steal your glasses.

Klingon Defense Academy

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