Star Trek 2009

It may start the younger audiences on a trek through all the movies, if not the TV series which are all in syndication except Voyager (and I really like Voyager with the female captain). "Enterprise," in the last season changed to "Star Trek Enterprise" in on the Sci-Fi Channel but not HD (a curious half-size image that one has to zoom to fill the picture, giving an imaged about the quality of a standard DVD) and on HD Net in full 1080i. Lots of spectacular CGI on that show if the stories sometimes were weak (but the cast is excellent even with the meandering story lines that seemed to get side-tracked). I love the opening credits showing the Enterprise from sailing ships to space flight evolution throughout the ages. Pretty good pop song theme, kind of space age folk music.

Of course, there were three mediocre "Star Trek" movies, maybe even four. The franchise has formed a future history along the lines of Robert Heinlein (hey, he also wrote "Starship Troopers.")

I prefer the TV series format over the movie format for telling stories like this. What I really hope is that they decide to continue this new retelling of TOS with these actors in a new TV series.

Abrams has done very well with Lost, just think what he could do with a big budget and a TOS 2009.

Could be his plan eventually but if the box office comes in for this one, there will be a new life in the movie franchise and a new movie maybe even once a year.


"Star Trek" Likely To Be Number One Draw In Big Box Office Weekend
5/8/2009 2:50 PM ET
(RTTNews) - Hitting nearly 4,000 theaters this upcoming weekend, sci-fi adventure "Star Trek" should be far and away the number one draw. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" is also likely to post strong numbers in its second weekend, which could be enough to make it the biggest weekend so far in 2009.

After "Star Trek: Nemesis" tanked back in 2002, the "Star Trek" movie franchise has been a prime target for a complete revamping. Director J.J. Abrams's new film will be exactly that as it tells the origin story of Captain James Kirk, one of the most celebrated science fiction characters of both television and movies.

Considering the popularity of recent origin stories, including the successful launch of X-Men's "Wolverine" a week ago, "Star Trek" is likely to have great appeal for fans of the series. Abrams also brings a strong action reputation, as he was the director of blockbuster "Mission Impossible III" and producer of last year's hit "Cloverfield." With the promise of intense action, "Star Trek" will also appeal to the same action demographic that made "Fast and Furious" a smash hit in addition to the Trekkies.

"Star Trek" also brings with it a considerable amount of positive critical buzz, something that "Wolverine" lacked. The presence of "Wolverine" could slow it down somewhat, however, and will likely keep it from nearing $100 million for the weekend. Still, look for "Star Trek" to be a big hit this weekend and in the weeks to come, potentially making it Paramount's biggest success of the year. A $90 million weekend seems very possible.

Changing the timeline wasn't particularly related to modernizing. I'm not sure how it modernizes anything that the Enterprise was built in Iowa rather than San Francisco, or that Vulcan was destroyed, or that Spock's mother was killed. Those were arbitrary decisions by the writers. Had Abrams been a fan of the show, he might not have wanted to do that.

Furthermore, if it weren't for us, the show would have been dead and buried decades ago. It's not much of a thank you.

Well, Brandon, i'm not looking to pick a fight with you, but i doubt very much if a reciprocal loyalty to long-time fans motivates the people who have done this. William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei and Walter Koenig are all getting too old to keep the series running. I can't speak to this motion picture, because i've not seen it. But i suspect the idea is to create an all new audience for what essentially is and has been a vehicle for 30 years or more. The first Star Trek movie was made 30 years ago. People anywhere up to the age of 35 may well not have a big stake in the original television series and the "book," or "bible," if you prefer, of that series. I have no idea if this will succeed, but i surmise that the producers want to set up an entirely new set of premises from which they can roll out film after film.

It's really not much different in many ways than having come up with Roger Moore when Sean Connery no longer wanted to do James Bond. The James Bond character has been kept alive now on film for almost 60 years, and it couldn't have been done without "re-inventing" him for each new series of films.

Doohan died in 2005 (I think) and , as I recall, he had his ashes shot into space. The rocket only made it about 70 miles and came tumbling back. I dont know whether they ever found his ashes. Really kinda stupid.
Our ashes should be returned to the biomass, not turned into some space flotsam.

I wonder if the "new" capt Kirk is gonna be a prima donna like Shatner.

I think it's great that they have new actors to play the roles. My only objection is to mucking with the history. That history has been around for 43 years, and there are a lot of books that flesh it out, and many of the long time fans have discussed it and thought about it for most of their lives.

I had planned to wait until Saturday to see it to avoid the crowds, but I couldn't wait and went with my wife last (Friday) night. As I say, I'm sorry for the decision to change the timeline, and I do believe the fact that Abrams has never been a fan of the show played into that, but given that they did that, the movie was great.

Well, i'm glad to think that they did a good job, even if they did re-write the "bible" of the vehicle. I'm glad you enjoyed it, too. There are a lot of people whose resentment would not allow them to enjoy it on it's own merits.

In Canadia, they think of Shatner as a great comedian. Them Canadians . . . i'll tell . . . there just ain't no accountin' for 'em.

If it helps, maybe you could think of the new timeline as a parallel line, not a replacement line. Perhaps both timelines now exist.

The other possibility is that they will spend the next episode "repairing" the original timeline. They've done that in other episodes (Guardian of Forever to name only one).

I prefer that they leave this new timeline alone so that we can have a brand new adventure, and that they decree that in this new Universe, time travel is impossible.

I must be part Canadian then, cuz I think Shatner is a riot.

Timeline? After the time travel and parallel world plot lines, especially in STE, I would think in a future movie that Vulcan may have never actually been destroyed. I would also think the writers, at least for the time being, didn't want to deal with any Vulcan "interference" which permeated a lot of the previous movies and TV series, and culminated with Star Trek Enterprise which devoted many episodes to this very theme. There was a lot of tinkering around with outright fantasy in the original series, some of it was a bit corny back then, but now it seems quaintly antique.

I'm lost on the Enterprise being built or even launched in San Franciso -- where in San Francisco? I remember their building ships out in space originally inside a construction satellite. Not only that but there have been multiple Enterprises with significant design alterations, so who knows how or why it might be replaced for a future Captain Kirk?

Thanks.

History Channel is repeating their 2007 documentary "Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier" beginning tonight -- I'm sure there will be repeats through one or two weeks. It's pretty detailed and I'm only 20 minutes into it (I'm sure I've seen it before) so I don't know if there will be any addendum material at the end on the new movies. So far they've only traced the history 40 years up to "Enterprise." In "Generations," it was Enterprise C -- Brandon, and I'm just ribbing you, it's okay for you to be conservative in politics but a space opera? I'm not , just and so I think I'll pop open a bottle Pinot

Yeah, but that's when he's tryin' to be a serious actor . . .

That's what makes it so good

He wasn't that bad in the original Star Trek and he's having a ball on "Boston Legal" and getting good reviews. At least he got a decent toupee.

The Star Trek show ended up on the auction -- I forgot what amazing prices the props and costumes were so bid so fantastically high. One for over half-a-million dollars -- I think it was Enterprise D.

BTW, they had the model for the first Enterprise and it was "A." Usually when labeling anything, the first is by name and the second is qualified with an "A." So if there was a previous Enterprise, the ship in STE is "A" and with Shatner as captain, "B." However, they're not jibing up with the actual numbers from the series or the auction models. The writers have never been that particular about the history -- I'm sure if there was time to bother, all sorts of contradictory information would surface from series to movies to series.

From TV Guide:

An Inside Look at the Out-of-This-World Star Trek Auction

* Oct 11, 2006 04:00 AM ET
* by Danny Spiegel


Christie’s employee Leonia Ashfield surveys some of the highly coveted Star Trek wares.
When item No. 712 was announced at Christie's Star Trek auction, the assembled crowd oohed and aahed with anticipation. "Is this an important lot?" joked auctioneer Richard Brierley. No doubt. It was the Starship Enterprise-D, the 78-inch model used for exterior shots on Star Trek: The Next Generation. In just three minutes, the presale estimate of $35,000 was photon-torpedoed, and ultimately an anonymous phone bidder ponied up $576,000 for the top seller of the October 5-7 auction. That single-item expenditure even surpassed the $284,800 that was taken in by the Enterprise-A model, which had been used for the first six Trek films. (In case you were wondering, the model featured in the original 1966-69 series is housed at the Smithsonian.)

The $576K Enterprise-D wasn't the only "anomaly" during this most unusual auction, which raked in a total of $7.1 million for 1,000 lots. After all, it's not every day that Christie's staffers wear authentic Starfleet uniforms (courtesy of Paramount). And who would have thought that the typically press-shy Avery Brooks (aka Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Captain Sisko) would make an appearance? (Though he was actually there to film an interview for a History Channel documentary on the franchise, he did briefly enter the bidding room instead of sneaking out the back.) "It brings back great feelings of nostalgia," Brooks said right before a woman ran up and jokingly asked him, in the spirit of the day, to sell his jacket or sunglasses to her. Conan O'Brien even showed up to film a video piece. "This is pretty incredible," he said, "[but] I actually blew all my money at the Green Acres auction."

Well, everyone else blew their cash on the many little pieces of Gene Roddenberry's vision. Like Gary Sekulow, an accountant from Georgia who soon will be living a fan's dream. With the acquisition of two ship consoles from Star Trek: Nemesis, one of Captain Archer's chairs from Star Trek: Enterprise and gray paneling from TNG (plus $30,600), he's planning to pimp his home theater Trek-style. "My electrician was on standby if I was able to get this," said Sekulow, "so he's going to be happy."

Patrick Stewart look-alike Giles Aston, a graphic designer from England, showed up in uniform and paid $6,000 for a costume from Nemesis, the 2002 film that featured a clone of Captain Picard. "I've always wanted the Nemesis uniform because I am a clone, ultimately," said Aston, who has made paid appearances as Stewart. "I wish they could release it for me and I could have it on now."

Eric Troyer, a North Carolina physician, won so many lots " 19 total, at an outlay of more than $125,000 " that he's thinking of opening up a mini-museum in his state. (Stefan Hallin of Sweden is considering doing the same.) However, you can be sure that the DS9 medical signs from Dr. Bashir's infirmary will hang outside Troyer's own office.

One of the few big-ticket items to be sold "in the room," as opposed to going to mysterious online and phone bidders, was the $132,000 Star Trek: Voyager ship model, which went to Adrian Hancock of England. "Your heart's racing," said the candy-company co-owner, describing the frenzied bidding process. "When that hammer went down, it was such a high. I'm still trying to calm down!" Hancock plans to hang the ship in the converted barn next to his home that houses other movie collectibles, as well as a bar and pool table.

While collectors will likely place their valuable costumes on mannequins, other proud owners, like England's Jennie Rix, will be sporting hers " in this case, Deanna Troi's "dress uniform" from TNG " at conventions or costume parties. "I hope I do the uniform justice," said Rix, who dispensed $2,880 for the duds. When reached the day after the sale, actress Marina Sirtis, who played Troi, was glad to hear that one of her costumes would now be residing in her native country. "That's wonderful," she said. "I hope that if I do a convention in England she wears it and comes to see me." (Sirtis kindly warned Rix to be careful of "VPLs," aka visible panty lines.)

Meanwhile, Angela Simmons' 13-year-old daughter, Micki, has other, more formal plans for her new $2,880 dress that was once worn by Jolene Blalock as the Vulcan T'Pol on Enterprise. "I'm going to wear it at my wedding," she promised.

Each winning bidder was elated to obtain a coveted Trek artifact. Nonetheless, trying to explain the fervor and passion of the day (as well as the obscene sums spent) to the uninitiated wasn't easy. "My girlfriend thinks I'm silly for coming here," said William Chase of Massachusetts, who picked up some phaser rifles. "She said, 'I don't want to know what you bought, but I'm happy you're happy.'"

As the Star Trek franchise transitions into an unknown future, it appears the faithful are as strong as ever. "I've never been to a convention," said Troyer, the North Carolina doctor. "And I've never been to an auction. It's just something I grew up with and this is actually a chance to own history.” A history set in the future, at that.

Of course, there's no ship models in any future auctions from STE or this film as the space ships are all CGI.

There's also a History Channel show "How William Shatner (Star Trek) Changed the World" which is really a tongue-in-cheek analysis of gadgets inspired by Star Trek and a rehash of the history of the TV/Movie franchise. The Tricorder inspired the I Pod?

Well, I'm glad you liked Voyager. Unfortunately I never did (except for the Holographic Doctor, he was fantastic). They had that one episode where they landed on a planet and the alien who lived there was a Capuchin Monkey or something like that. Thought I was gonna puke. Only the Borg episodes were any good. And the only thing I liked about DS9 was Quark and Odo. Everything else was a disaster... Bajoran's, give me a break. The shows constantly revolved around religion and drugs. Boring.

I haven't seen enough of Star Trek Enterprise to make a judgement, but any show that needs Jolene Blalock (Stunning as she is) just to make it watchable is probably lacking in other areas.

There was a reference to Captain Archer's Beagle in the Star Trek movie. Did you catch that? Scotty apparently beamed the poor pooch somewhere it has yet to arrive.

You guys know waaay too much about this TV show. Its kind of freaky. If I ever get a chance to meet you will I have to dress up as one of them little hairy things that was eating the quattro triticalie