Star Trek's USS Yorktown

Six Starfleet spaceships have borne the name Enterprise. Each has been more advanced than the last but what happened to the first iconic starship? Did you know that the USS Enterprise NCC 1701 was originally known by another name? The USS Yorktown was that name given to Star Trek's first spaceship before the ship was re-christened, USS Enterprise 1701. Thank Galactic Space! In 1964, Star Treks first ever, test pilot was presented to NBC TV Network bosses who wanted an exciting action packed "space western."

Its fun watching Star Trek's classic episode of "the Cage" today with the camera sweeping across the "Enterprise" bridge officers on duty. Unfortunately their commander, Captain Christopher Pike looks a little lost with the robotic reactions of the bridge crew so not helping. The crew fall short on action and excitement led by their self doubting commander who's a rather humble soul for the big wheel on the Federation's Flagship USS Enterprise. Tellingly, the vulcan Spock smiles on Talos IV however NBC executives were not "Fascinated" at all.

Question: Who was the first captain of the starship USS Enterprise NCC 1701 and the USS Yorktown?

In the original "script" before filming began, Gene Roddenberry named the USS Yorktown after a World War II aircraft carrier. The commander in charge was starship Captain Robert April who never made it onto TV. Next up for the big chair was Christopher Pike before Roddenberry makes James T. Kirk Star Treks big gun.

I reckon Pike made space history in 2261 in what becomes known as the "Talos Incident." The seductive charms of Vina as the bewitching green orion girl, fail to brainwash Captain Pike who had bigger fish to fry. He resists Talosians mind control and bungles his chances to mate with Vina played by Susan Oliver. Oh well, the burdens of command.

Live Long and Prosper, Trekkies and Trekkers!

Star Trek Xbox

Star Treks Xbox 360 game is available now. The game is fast paced with a movie-like experience, however gamers will notice bugs requiring further updates. Do the pro's outweigh the con's? Its time to decide: Is your game chosen for its fun storyline, action adventure, characters, and placement in the Star Trek universe or are sci-fi technological thrills what turn you on?

Heres a rundown of Star Trek Xbox 360 Criteria to consider.

 Con's:
* Gameplay is designed for 16 year olds and over.
* The facial expressions are a little flat.
* Gamer reaction is mixed.

* The companion AI can be rather "dumb" at times.


 Pro's:
* Star Trek Xbox game got a GORN, explosions, third person shooter experience and sweet spaceships!
* You get to be Kirk and give orders from the bridge of the Enterprise.
* Varied gameplay experiences with skydives and spacedives.
* Gamers can use a Tricorder to investigate, Phasers in shoot-outs with the Gorn and Spock's vulcan neck pinch technique.
* Splitscreen gameplay experience for singleplayer play-throughs.
* Gameplay is fast-paced and movie-like, heavily influenced Star Trek.
* Voice-acting and music is superb using real actors and actresses from previous Star Trek film.
* The graphics/design of the environments looks futuristic.
* The storyline is a fun and a light-hearted action adventure.

The spirit of Star Trek adventure is also very much alive in the gameplay of Star Trek The Video Game. Whether you're gliding through chasms or jumping precariously through zero G.

Which trekkie ingredient makes a truly uber gaming experience for you?

What fun part of the game do you like most?


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Who says: You know, if we weren't trying to save the whole universe, this might actually be fun! Game long and Prosper, trekkies and trekkers.

Star Treks Weeper Plant

W is for Weeper plant. In the Star Treks classic episode of the Man Trap, the salt vampire disturbs "Gertrude" in the Enterprise botany lab.

All seemed fine on the surface until our bright pink carnivorous plant started to quiver and the little fella shrieked its lungs out. The plant whom Janice Rand calls "Beauregard" instinctively sounded the alarm because it was agitated and detected a threat to the ship. The Salt Vampire might have murdered both Sulu and Rand except that Beauregard scared it off.

Its funny watching "Beauregard" surveying the Enterprise Botany lab and ducking for cover. In Janices company the plant purrs softly because it likes her. Its obviously only a hand puppet, whose mysterious owner gave it true personality that makes you want to laugh!

Valeris

V is for valeris but who is she? In Star Trek the Undiscovered Country VI, Kim Cattrall plays the sneaky vulcan, Lieutenant Valeris who sabotages peace talks for her own ends.

Its fun watching the hungover USS Enterprise NCC 1701-A crew trying to piece together the clues in this wonderfully dark Star Trek murder/mystery.  Romulan Ale anyone?

Time is running out for Kirk and Dr McCoy as dark, secretive forces land our heroes in the clink. Kirk's personal log crucifies the duo at the Klingon trial.

Jim! They're setting us up! Your honors, I protest-!

 Uhura is horrified...Rura Pentha. Scotty reckons its better ro kill them now and get it over with. Who were the assassins in the white pairs of gravity boots? What motivated Valeris (a top Starfleet Academy graduate) to conspire with the Chancellor Gorkon's Chief of Security, General Chang? Who murdered Gorkon and why? We know from Mr Spock's speech that the Klingon's planet is dying. On the bridge Valeris refuses to give the much needed information to save the Federations presidents life. So Spock mind rapes her.

Did the sly vulcan get what she deserved?

Starfleet Uniforms

U is for Star Trek uniform. Is yours ready for trekking into darkness?

In Star Trek's classic series, uniforms consisted of black pants, boots, and tunics in gold, red, and blue. In our new age of technology Starfleet uniforms can now be complete, all the way down to your feet! Gold is for command personnel, blue for science, red for security and engineering.

Trek fans have the option of wearing pants or dresses similar to those seen in any of Star Trek's series, so get kitted out to your socks!

What Starfleet colors will you be sporting at the movies premiere of Star Trek Into Darkness on May 17th?

 All uniform's have the Enterprises arrowhead insignia sewn above the left breast. Gold braid on the sleeve denotes rank depending on how many rows or broken rows there are. Just don't forget your communicator.

Two to beam in, Scotty!

Trekkie Trexels

When I discovered this poster on Alex J.Cavanaugh blog and my eyes nearly melted onto my computer screen.

The trekkie characters in John Martz "Trexels" creation nearly caused a sensory overload in my positronic matrix. Martz's poster has 235 Star Trek characters crying out to be identified. So why not feed your inner trekkie and take a stab at naming the characters, its fun!



Trexel long and Prosper, Trekkies and Trekkers

Forbidden Planet

Whats the name of the Robot voiced by Marvin Miller in the 1956 movie Forbidden Planet?
Which science fiction movie franchise is heavily influenced by FP?

Star Trek Phaser Rifle

A unique piece of Star Trek memorabilia went under the hammer at auction recently for a cool $231,000. Top Toy designer Reuben Klamer, created trek's iconic Phaser-Rifle with only a two week deadline. Klamer built the wood-aluminium gun for free which apparently gave Star Trek a fighting chance to survive. The move got him licensing rights for toys of the weapon too. Its fascinating to think a "toy" used only once, saved the entire show by relaunching Captain Kirk as the shows heroic action character.


Kirk uses the phaser rifle to kill his friend Gary Mitchel, causing a rocky landslide to fall on top of him. The story goes NBC wanted this action packed "wagon train to the stars" to get high TV ratings. No-one could have predicted how popular Trek was to become especially after the network rejected Star Trek's first pilot.

The shows creator, Gene Roddenberry seized the moment when NBC gave him the nod for "Where No Man Has Gone Before." It also helped having William Shatner to replace Jeffrey Hunter in the second pilot. The studio sets were redressed for the newer Enterprise crew, keeping the "guy with the ears" and reinventing "frosty No1" as Dr McCoy's blonde assistant in sickbay.

Auction House Juliens Hollywood Legends stated recently that Roddenberry wanted "a really big Gun" which took everyone by storm all over again, 47 years later! The prop was sold to a rich private American collector who has one of the biggest collections of original Star Trek costumes in the world. This prop will join the collection and will not end up being displayed at museums. Star Trek fans really owe a huge debt of thanks to Reuben Klamer, the shows creative mastermind behind the gun, whose invention along with the Big Bird of the Galaxy and Walter Matt Jeffries saved Star Trek from the scrap heap. Thank you Reuben for designing a really wicked phaser rifle with totally amazing wow factor. Reuben's Phaser Rifle has a sweet sound to it.






Fire long and Prosper, trekkies and trekkers.

Questor Tapes

Questor is an incomplete android played by Robert Foxworth. The actor also played Admiral Leyton in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost."

Curiously, Questor searches for his creator and purpose on planet Earth by learning and trusting his robotic instincts,  LOL. "Tinman" surprises everyone by waking up. For a dude "lacking memory tapes" he does a pretty neat job giving himself human features. Edited by gleeful fingers I think Questor the "Superhuman android" could be quite good pitched as a dark comedy. Instead viewers get a freaky, calm version of Mr Data from Star Trek TNG.

Five years after Gene Roddenberry's classic STAR TREK show withered in 1969, trekkies witnessed the spark of something new in the entertainment industry. So what happened?  Questor Tapes was one of a series of television movies in which Roddenberry was involved, which (included Genesis II, Planet Earth, and Spectre) but sadly none of the pilots generated enough TV ratings to be green lit as a series.



Quest long and Prosper, trekkies and trekkers.

Star Trek Into Darkness Posters

Sci-Fi Bad Robot director J.J. Abrams tweeted epic news recently with, Almost done!!! The exciting news is Star Treks Post Production finished for the movie sequel today, according to the latest on Trekmovie. The first public showing of Star Trek Into Darkness will be in Sydney Australia with a gala premiere on April 23rd.

 It didn't seem that long ago four years ago when Star Trek's classic vulcan, Leonard Nimoy, Stunned Trekkies by beaming Star Trek's 2009 Premiere into the Alamo Draft House in Austin, Texas. REMEMBER?



iTunes has some pretty awesome Star Trek Into Darkness Posters which you can download here.

Heres the new STID International ‘Cinemosaic’ animated poster, isn't it cool?

Tweet Long and Prosper, trekkies and trekkers.