Who said wikis were only for fans? They work for writers, too
Memory Alpha has been a tremendous resource for Star Trek fans, journalists and even writers for quite a long time. Covering what it calls the canonical Star Trek universe (while Memory Beta handles non-canon), the wiki has posted entries of even the smallest minutiae in Gene Roddenberry’s creation since 2003. But now it has two new very public fans — “Star Trek: Beyond” writers Simon Pegg and Doug Jung. “We had the entirety …UPDATE: CBS tells Spiner that Abrams is not attached
CBS has been collecting a lot of big names for its new Star Trek series on CBS All Access. You know, Nicholas Meyer. Rod Roddenberry. Bryan Fuller. But has the series added the biggest name yet? You know, J.J. Abrams? There’s been no announcement at all, but one former actor in the Trek television franchise believes it’s true, dropping it as a quick aside during a recent interview. “You know, I’m looking at the people they’ve lined up working on it, and J.J. just came aboard as a producer,” former “Star Trek: The Next Generation” star Brent Spiner told Collider. “And yo …Netflix pulls plug on viewing in countries where it’s not licensed
Star Trek fans in the United States love Netflix, because just about anything and everything Star Trek can be found there. So much, people in other countries would like the same access — especially since their Netflix might have good selection, but no Star Trek. That’s what happened in Canada, where Netflix has no sign of Star Trek anywhere. So residents there used technology originally designed to create remote offices for companies to make Netflix think they were accessing the service in the United States, and allowing Kirk, Picard, Sisko, and even Janeway and Archer into th …Marc Okrand doesn’t own it, but not sure if Paramount or CBS does either
More than 30 years after it was created, the Klingon language still knows how to get attention in the press. That was apparent in recent weeks when some news outlets focused on its inclusion as part of a copyright infringement lawsuit CBS Corp. and Paramount Pictures has filed against a fan-film. But can someone (or some company) actually own a language? And if so, who owns it? It’s not Marc Okrand, the man credited with creating the language with some early help fro …Alibaba Pictures puts money into latest Star Trek film
It’s not easy for American films to find their way into Chinese theaters, but when they do, they sure make a lot of money. “Star Trek: Into Darkness” was the first Trek film to experience that back in 2013, where $57 million of its total $467 million worldwide gross came directly from China. Now “Star Trek: Beyond” hopes to build on that momentum, getting an investment boost from China-based Alibaba Pictures, which could very well open the door for “Beyond” to show up in the country. The Chinese studio is a subsidiary of the massive e-commerce corporation Alibaba Group, …
Nicholas Meyer says maybe, Richard Arnold says no
The last several weeks have been busy for Nicholas Meyer. The two-time Star Trek movie director first joined the writing staff of the new Star Trek series for CBS All Access. He sold his Palisades-based home for $5.4 million. And he accused the late composer Alexander Courage of possibly lifting his famous “Star Trek” theme fanfare from a 1951 movie. “There can be no doubt that much original music has been composed for the series and its various spinoffs and feature …
Facebook might have unveiled how we’ll see title in the movie
It looks like a post-production artist named Craig is not the only winner of a recent college basketball contest. Star Trek fans might have something to collect as well, as it appears the title card from the actual “Star Trek: Beyond” movie may have been revealed. The modified logo for “Beyond,” which differs significantly from the version of the name used in marketing for the film, shows a much cleaner typeface for “Beyond,” with narrow strokes. It appears on a monitor next to someone identified only as “Craig” who works on the Star Trek team at Digital Vortechs. That com …
PLUS: Idris Elba admits Krall is a new species who hates the Federation
There’s warriors like Christopher Lloyd’s Kruge in “Star Trek III: The Search For Spock,” and then there are talky villains like Khan in both “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (Ricardo Montalban) and “Star Trek: Into Darkness” (Benedict Cumberbatch). And then, of course, you have talky warriors like Christopher Plummer’s Chang in “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.” For Krall, a new villain brought to “Star Trek: Beyond” by Idris Elba, the Enterprise is going head-to-head with someone who is pure warrior. And it won’t be good for her crew. “What’s interesting about him …
Not a lot of opening weekend choices to attach it to, however
It seems we finally have a date when we can expect the full trailer for “Star Trek: Beyond.” And while we were quite confident the trailer would be attached to “Captain America: Civil War,” it seems instead Paramount Pictures has its eye on … “Angry Birds”? Entertainment Weekly reporter Gerrad Hall says Paramount will roll out the trailer May 20 in a special event in Los Angeles hosted by the film’s director, Justin Lin. Fans will be invited to the Paramount lot i …
Will hit shelves same day as four other previously announced Blu-ray sets
Better start making some room on that DVD shelf now. Not only will this summer be marked with Blu-ray releases for both the modern Star Trek movies and two Star Trek series, but Paramount Home Media Distribution also has scheduled a June 7 release date for the Blu-ray version of “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.” In fact, the digitally remastered 1982 director’s cut will hit store shelves the same day as “Star Trek” and “Star Trek: Into Darkness” from P …
‘Final Frontier,’ made with triticale, will be available for Ottawa Comiccon
Star Trek fans in Ottawa will have a chance to once again drink a micro-brewed beer that is completely inspired by the science-fiction franchise they love. Clocktower Brew Pub says it’s readying a new beer called “Final Frontier” that will be available at both the Starfleet Gala next month at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, as well as at Ottawa Comiccon. The gala, an annual fundraising event for the museum, kicks off May 12 with special guest William Shatner. Comiccon, which attracts some 50,000 people, according to the Ottawa Citizen, is planned for that same …
Pocket Books revives popular fan-writing contest after 9-year break
The “Strange New Worlds” anthology Star Trek book from Pocket Books is back, and now readers will know at least the names of the authors they can expect to see when the book is published later this year. Simon & Schuster, the parent company of the long-time Trek book publisher, revived the contest after nearly a nine-year hiatus. The original contest helped Pocket discover popular authors in the past like Dayton Ward, William Leisner and Ilsa J. Bick. Pocket Books hopes to add to that list with these 10 authors: Derek Tyler Attico The Dreamer and the Dream Nei …
PLUS: Film will embrace not just old fans, but new
Many fans, especially those who may not have necessarily grown up as Star Trek fans, typically have that one film they point to that got them hooked. For many older fans, it was “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” in 1986. For others a decade later, it was “Star Trek: First Contact” in 1996. And then there was 2009’s “Star Trek.” With the 50th anniversary of the franchise here, “Star Trek: Beyond” co-star and co-writer Simon Pegg said the idea he developed with Doug Jung was to make this movie to join those other three not only as celebrations for existing fans, but as gateways …
Rumor jives with recent 1701News column predicting the same thing
Just last weekend, 1701News publicly asked Paramount Pictures where the full trailer is for “Star Trek: Beyond,” and then even speculated that it would most likely premiere the first week in May. And if a new rumor report from Collider is accurate, we may have been spot on. Collider writer Steve Weintraub said a Paramount source informed him that not only would the trailer drop in May, but that the studio is planning a special event in Los Angeles surrounding its release. It’s one of t …Studios rebut dismissal demand in copyright case against fan-film
When Erin Ranahan filed her second motion to dismiss a copyright infringement case filed by CBS Corp. and Paramount Pictures, many news outlets and blogs had fun with some of the claims being made, like the similarities between Spock and the movie vampire Nosferatu, as well as whether the Klingon language is even copyrightable. But according to an attorney for CBS and Paramount, the claims by Ranahan for her clients, Axanar Productions Inc. and its principal Alec Pet …