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10 Real-Life Values Mined From Star Trek John Kirk joins 1701News and examines the merits of fandom
Trek fans often get beaten with the short end of the warp coil when it comes to justifying their love of Star Trek. However, what non-Trek fans don’t get is the real-life values that are transferred with an appreciation of this universe created by Gene Roddenberry. Okay, maybe it’s a bit of a stretch, but there is a definite underlying pseudo-philosophy that one can ascertain, and here are a few examples that illustrate why being a Star Trek fan can actually be good for you. No. 10: You will never be at a loss for a Halloween costume When you consider the diverse am …

JOHN KIRK | Sep-21-2014 |

Exploring Religion Beyond The Stars Human faith can, and should, be explored in the Star Trek future
I’ve recently been talking to a friend of mine, known online as Prospero, about issues that Star Trek can explore if it ever returns to the small screen. One of the ideas that he brought up was religion. I’m an agnostic, and he’s an atheist, so I instantly assumed that he was saying Star Trek should be critical of religion, particularly when so much of the political landscape and geopolitical issues of the world are dominated by religion of one form or another. To my surprise, he said quite the opposite: that Star Trek can and should explore religion, and that even some ch …

BRANDON RHEA | Jun-16-2014 |

Change Brings Redemption In ‘Worth’ Graphic novel offers an engaging look at a superhero’s rebirth
For Detroit’s forgotten superhero Grant Worth, shouldering the realities of a changing world proved a debilitating weight. Earning fame and fortune in the ’60s using mechanopathy, which is the power to control machines, Worth quickly became the Motor City’s carefree knight, a hero accustomed to bringing hope and justice to its citizens. But as years past and technology rapidly developed within machinery — computer chips, motherboards and microprocessors — Worth found the increasingly complex maze of 1s and 0s stumped his abilities. Soon Worth’s powers were less releva …

BRYANT L. GRIFFIN | May-28-2014 |

What ‘The Clone Wars’ Can Teach ‘Star Trek’ Can the franchise make a ‘Star Wars’-like transition to animation?
On March 7, “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” released its sixth and final season onto Netflix, marking the end of the George Lucas era of the Star Wars franchise. Since its first release as an animated feature film in 2008, “The Clone Wars” has consistently proven doubters wrong about whether or not an animated series could be successful in what is primarily a live-action film franchise. There was worry that it would cater too much to kids, which was also a criticism leveled at the Star Wars prequel trilogy, or that it could never live up to the film saga. Not only did it live …

BRANDON RHEA | Mar-15-2014 |

Advancing The World Of Tomorrow Columnist Brandon Rhea says it’s time for Star Trek to have a gay captain
Ever since its first broadcast in 1966, “Star Trek” has been a leader in advancing racial tolerance and the push for civil rights. When it first premiered, the original “Star Trek” showed Lt. Uhura as a strong leader of a multicultural starship, and the fourth in command of the Enterprise. She also was half of television’s first interracial kiss. In a time when African-American women mostly played servants on screen, Uhura’s role was so important that her biggest fan was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who said “Star Trek” showed African-Americans they had a place in the world of …

BRANDON RHEA | Feb-16-2014 |

Star Trek: Film Vs. Television Franchise should warp back to the small screen
In my December column “’Star Trek 3’ Holiday Wish List,” I spoke about several improvements the sequel’s screenwriters could make. But one nagging reality overshadowed my list from the beginning — Star Trek’s true home is television. Small screen entertainment has enjoyed significant strides in recent years. Many series on cable are particularly impressive. Even special effects on television can produce remarkable results. Star Trek was good long before this television renaissance, but it’s ha …

BRYANT L. GRIFFIN | Jan-29-2014 |

A New Star Trek, A New Conflict What would conflict look like in an imperfect Trek future?
In my last column, I began talking to you about how Star Trek can return to television in a way that makes it a reflection of modern times. The basic idea is that Star Trek’s return to the small screen should be set in the centuries after “Star Trek: Voyager,” and it should be set in a time when the Federation is declining. Despite the decline, we spend this new series, which I referred to as “Star Trek Legacies,” showing how the Federation can move into a brighter future again. In …

BRANDON RHEA | Jan-16-2014 |

‘Star Trek,’ Shatner Helped Inspire Generations A look back at the foundation of a sci-fi sensation
Star Trek is one of the most famous fictional universes ever created. Not only has it influenced virtually every piece of mainstream science fiction since its debut in 1966, it’s helped inspire three generations worth of fans to become doctors, engineers, lawyers, scientists, ships captains — the list goes on. It also has made its owners untold millions of dollars and its cast into household names. Star Trek has even added to the lexicon, with “Beam me up Scotty,” “engage,” “warp drive” and “phasers” being just a short sampling of how the show changed the way people talk. Wh …

JOHN VINCENT | Jan-13-2014 |

You Know, Sometimes You Just Need A Break What happened to all the Star Trek news that’s out in the world?
I’ve shared this story so many times, and even I’m tired of it. But I still have people come up and ask me why, after spending 15 years (and counting) doing science-fiction entertainment news online, I would add to that workload and tackle Star Trek specifically. I think it’s a fair question, and easily answered if you take a look at the state of Star Trek news on the Web these days. Don’t get me wrong, there is news out there, and there are a couple of people who should be recognized for their hard work. You know, people like T’Bonz over at TrekToday. Wait, did I just men …

MICHAEL HINMAN | Jan-4-2014 |

A ‘Star Trek 3’ Holiday Wish List Can Orci and the new writers deliver a present we will not return?
Now that we know who will write “Star Trek 3,” it’s that time of the year to make a holiday wish list about what the screenwriters can do to keep the franchise invigorated and how to win over a few disgruntled fans in the process. There is a lot of chatter about who might be the next director for the sequel now that J.J. Abrams is off to helm Disney’s “Star Wars: Episode VII.” See our column on this here. But I’m actually more anxious about the writers. They shoulder the heart of any …

BRYANT L. GRIFFIN | Dec-20-2013 |

Paramount: Think Carefully About New Director This is a time to get someone with experience, not potential
I don’t know Joe Cornish. And to be honest, his name wasn’t really known to me, either, before it popped up on a directors short list for “Star Trek 3” a couple months back. Hollywood seems to be totally in love with Cornish, and maybe they have reason to be. I haven’t seen “Attack of the Block,” and I’m not going to judge it simply by box office returns (as we know box office and quality don’t always go hand in hand). But I am going to judge the fact that Cornish really hasn’t done a lot of movie work, and I think we’re asking a lot to suddenly hand to him a film that is 20 t …

MICHAEL HINMAN | Nov-4-2013 |

Why John Harrison Shouldn’t Have Been Khan Austin Harper responds to latest ‘Into Darkness’ revelations
In response to Michael Hinman’s recent article, Find Out How Khan Almost Wasn’t Khan, I want to take a moment to discuss Roberto Orci’s announcement that Khan wasn’t always going to be the main villain in “Star Trek: Into Darkness.” The same day as this 1701News story, Blastr had a story highlighting what they said were the 14 things that made “Into Darkness” so controversial. While I do agree with most of their points, they seemed a bit trivial compared to what I think was the …

AUSTIN HARPER | Sep-13-2013 |

Star Trek Is Not Broken Michael Hinman provides a broader view on fandom
We seem to evaluate what the world thinks based on our own circle of friends, or the people we come into contact with. And if I believed that those people represented the world at large, then I would have been the only person enjoying and loving “Star Trek: The Next Generation” in the late 1980s. It couldn’t have been more than the second season of the show, and I had met some avid “Star Trek” fans at a place my family would summer. And if you noticed, I put “Star Trek” in quotes because I’m not talking about Star Trek, the overall franchise — but the actual original serie …

MICHAEL HINMAN | Sep-4-2013 |

Fans Face Appalling Scavenger Hunt With ‘Into Darkness’ Film requires multiple purchases for all bonus features
Paramount’s upcoming Blu-ray/DVD release of “Star Trek: Into Darkness” has more than two hours worth of extras, an in-depth audio commentary track and special-edition packaging. But to get the complete extras, you’ll have to purchase all four versions of the film being released Sept. 10, and you’ll also have to buy the iTunes digital download. Oh, then get the movie from CinemaNow service, too. In fact, the “vanilla” version of the “Into Darkness” Blu-ray/DVD only comes with 42 minutes of bonus features, less than half the total number of behind-the-scenes extras produced by P …

JOSEPH DICKERSON | Aug-30-2013 |

Star Trek’s Color Addiction Reflects Future Why the franchise’s rainbow palette may live on (sorry red shirts)
When Star Trek first hit the airwaves in 1967, one could not help but notice the show’s expansive use of color. The sets, costumes and lighting all used bright, vibrant colors whenever possible. Of course the main reason for this was to get people who had just bought new high-tech color televisions to tune in, yet even in this regard, “Star Trek” was on the money. More modern, “realistic” depictions of space tend to show spaceships bathed in primarily white metal. Everything from “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Alien,” “Sunshine” and “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” all have shi …

JOHN VINCENT | Aug-24-2013 |