The A to Z Challenge kicks off on Saturday! Are you ready for a month of going boldly where no bloggie or trekkie has gone before? My theme for 2017 is Star Trek culture, technology, people and places.
Blogman Arlee Bird has an army of A to Z co-hosts with fascinating rules to set our phasers on fire. If any Klingons turn up fire a full spread spread of torpedos to trekkinate!!! terminate haha - get it?
In the meantime hashtag the AtoZ event on twitter #atozchallenge and don't forget to follow star trekking friends back..... across the blogverse. Oh and just one last thing......Make posts short and easy to read....... Visit those who visit you........ Qapla! (Klingon word for Success)
Star Trek Sci Fi Blog mourns Bill Paxton's death who passed away on Saturday. Comicbook.com explains his cause of death was "from a stroke after post-op complications," following heart surgery which the poor guy was worried about. He was only 61.
Apparently Bill emailed Director Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) with the message,
"Thanks for the good wishes. It will help me face this ordeal" RIP Bill Paxton.
We're on the road to the Oscars Ceremony, the biggest night in Hollywood is finally here. The 89th Academy Awards will be broadcast live tonight, So lets roll on down town along the red carpet and speculate on the winners! The exciting news is Star Trek beyond got nominated!!!! Who Hoo!!! For what I hear you ask? Best Makeup and Hairstyling hehe..... Duh what? I'm serious! all right, al right, moving on. So who's going to win big for this years 2017's Oscar's?
Heres the list of Nominees and Best Pictures:
BEST PICTURE
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
BEST ACTRESS
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie
Emma Stone, La La Land
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Viola Davis, Fences
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel, Lion
Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals
BEST DIRECTOR
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Denis Villeneuve, Arrival
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Arrival
Fences
Hidden Figures
Lion
Moonlight
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Hell or High Water
La La Land
The Lobster
Manchester by the Sea
20th Century Women
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
My Life as a Zucchini
The Red Turtle
Zootopia
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Arrival
La La Land
Lion
Moonlight
Silence
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Allied
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Florence Foster Jenkins
Jackie
La La Land
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Fire at Sea
I Am Not Your Negro
Life, Animated
O.J.: Made in America
13th
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Extremis
4.1 Miles
Joe’s Violin
Watani: My Homeland
The White Helmets
BEST FILM EDITING
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
La La Land
Moonlight
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Land of Mine, Denmark
A Man Called Ove, Sweden
The Salesman, Iran
Tanna, Australia
Toni Erdmann, Germany
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
A Man Called Ove
Star Trek Beyond
Suicide Squad
BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Jackie
La La Land
Lion
Moonlight
Passengers
BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” La La Land
“Can’t Stop the Feeling,” Trolls
“City of Stars,” La La Land
“The Empty Chair,” Jim: The James Foley Story
“How Far I’ll Go,” Moana
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Arrival
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hail, Caesar!
La La Land
Passengers
BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
Blind Vaysha
Borrowed Time
Pear Cider and Cigarettes
Pearl
Piper
CBS Studios and Secret Hideout have started on the next chapter of #StarTrekDiscovery... Heres the latest Starfleet Officers trekland has to offer. Word has it these recruits have beamed aboard at Pinewood Studios, Toronto, Canada with Sam
Vartholomeos......Apparently he's signing up as Ensign Connor joining the starship Shenzhou. Maulik Pancholy plays
Dr. Nambue, the Chief Medical Officer aboard the Shenzhou and Terry
Serpico is playing Admiral Anderson as a high-ranking Starfleet
official.
Star Trek Discovery's cast is listed on Memory Alpha: But heres the short version -
Sonequa Martin-Green is Lieutenant Commander Rainsford playing the lead character aboard the starship Discovery NCC 1031.
Doug Jones portrays Lt. Saru as an alien Starfleet Science Officer of an
unknown species -
Anthony Rapp plays Lt. Stamets specializing in astromycology. Duh....what? He's a Science Officer aboard the USS Discovery NCC
1031
James Frain plays Sarek, Spocks father.
Michelle Yeoh plays Georgiou captain of the starship Shenzhou.
Sam Vartholomeos plays Ensign Connor.
Maulik Pancholy plays the USS Shenzhou's CMO Doctor Nambue.
Terry Serpico as Admiral Anderson.
Chris Obi plays T'Kuvma, a Klingon leader seeking to unite the
Klingon houses!
Shazad Latif plays Klingon Kol
Mary Chieffo plays L'Rell (Battle deck commander on a Klingon ship)
Emily Coutts as Conn officer
Set 10 years before the adventures of Kirk in The Original Series,
Star Trek: Discovery sees the return of Star Trek to television. The series is expected to debut on CBS All Access streaming service
sometime this year, with episodes available in the US and on
Netflix in certain areas of the world.
Whats your favorite TV show? Is 7 your lucky number? Have you got CBS or NetFlix?
Live Long and Prosper, trekkers.
Today we have a Star Trek fan taking the reigns at Star Trek Sci Fi Blog! Welcome aboard Adam Joseph from the USS Sports Machine. Adam writes articles and publishes sports stories and now Adams words in science fiction will be energizing our thoughts. Take it away trekker :)
Star Trek is a cult classic that has turned from what once was a small show into a lifestyle for many sci-fi fans. In the 80s and 90s, Star Trek was once again broadcast into the homes of millions with the installment of episodes titled The Next Generation. The series boldly explored "where no-one has gone before" aboard the newly commissioned USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D. Only years after the massive success of Star Trek Next Generation, producers decided to create another series, Deep Space Nine. This series was set upon a space station so as to not conflict with The Next Generation's 176 starship adventures.
Deep Space Nine was vastly underrated by many in the 90s but became much more popular as the years went on. Critics now praise the show for in-depth character building and brilliant stories. This has created a deep fanbase that has continued on until our modern day. With many new novels coming out every year, there is a very strong group of individuals in the Star Trek community who are looking to learn more about this space station. This makes a reboot seem very feasible and likely for Deep Space 9.
Will Deep Space 9 get a reboot or possibly hit the big screen someday?
Hey Trekkers! Have you tasted Kellog's Gornflakes yet?
The original and best, So lets put this to the test.
Heres Captain Kirk's crew on the track of trek's top secret ingredients.
Good grief, now Captain Gorn wants in on the action! But where is this planet?
Rich roasted, saurian flavoured Gornflakes yielding the powers of Star Trek Discovery, Yesss!.
So sit back and geek out in typical alien tradition. Its time for decision!
Just remember, take it easy and enjoy Kellog's Gornflakes!
Axanar Productions, the kickstarter production company have settled with Paramount Pictures and CBS Studios in the Star Trek copyright infringement lawsuit. The trouble began in 2015 after filmmaker Axanar shared some movie plans giving a Star Trek teaser shown at San Diego Comic Con in 2014. News of the "four year war" erupting between the Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire is exciting news in Star Trek. All the rest is in the video.
Its hardly surprising Paramount and CBS Studios found out. So now speculation is mounting over at Deadline.com pointing to the CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery covering the same material.
On January 4th a Federal judge denied "FAIR USE" as a defense and scheduled January
31st as the trial date. One mans creation - Star Trek's Creator Gene Roddenberry said
to Johnathan Frakes (Commander Riker TNG) many year ago.
"In the 24th century there
will be no hunger, there will be no greed, and all the children will know how to read.
So Trekker to Warrior - Lets rejoice. Star Trek isn't over! Gene
Roddenberry, Paramount, Axanar and theres us, the Fans we're all friends here. Star-Trek-Lives (1975) on in each of us. So it was coming down to the jury on the 31st Jan
but then Alec Peters settles out of court. Why? Legalize folks, fan film guidelines
and tests - extrinsic and intrinsic. All words, rhetoric and copyrights. Thankfully Keenser must have been hiding somewhere because a warpcore breach was happily contained.
Axanar Productions was created by lifelong
Star Trek fans who raised $1.4 million to celebrate their love for Star Trek. However
there is another side to this lawsuit. Fan-filmGuidelines have been revisited. It would appear two 15-minute episodes are the maximum amateurs can produce now as a combined "Part 1 and 2" on Youtube! not to mention a cap of $50,000 per film in fundraising donations.
The Editor’s note on Trekmovie States
It’s been over a year since a lawsuit was brought against the never made Star Trek fan
film Axanar (including the previously released Prelude to Axanar) and its creators,
namely producer Alec Peters. The suit, which was brought about after an unprecedented
$1.4 million was raised from fan donations and Axanar store purchases (and
subsequently spent, much of it allegedly not on the film itself), has changed the
landscape of Star Trek fan films. The lawsuit prompted the creation of specific and
restrictive fan film guidelines by CBS and Paramount, causing many fan film makers to
pivot (removing direct references to copyrighted Star Trek works) or end production
altogether.
STARFLEET FIRST STRIKE SQUADRON
On the 20th January 2017, both sides settled out of court.
I guess trekkers, we'll never see the like of Star Trek New Voyages again and these rules will be an adjustment for all fan film-makers.
Have you got any favorite, celebrated Star Trek feature length fan films worth watching again? If so, which ones do you like most?
Feel like fighting with Starfleets First Strike Squadron in the "Four Year War"
The 89th Oscar Academy Awards is honoring the best films for 2016 and is set to kick off on Sunday, February 26 2017. So is Star Trek Beyond in with a good chance of winning? OR Star Wars for that matter? Winning what? (I hear you cry,) all right, all right! Apparently trekkers, Trekcore is reporting that Joel Harlow and Richie Alonzo created the cool alien atmosphere for Starbase Yorktown.
So hilarious when Dr McCoy walks onto the USS Enterprise NCC 1701 bridge after Chekov declares: "WOW, That is impressive" "Awe shes a beauty isn't she?" replies Scotty "What a Damn Monstrosity! - Couldn't we just rent some space on a planet?
So now Suicide Squad and a Man Called Ove have to set their Prosthetics on MAXIMUM to beat Star Trek Beyond's high Alien standard.
So okay, In the visual effects preliminary. there were 20 movies. Star trek Beyond got shortlisted yet again just like Star Trek Into Darkness.
Yet Star Trek Beyond did qualify for an Oscar Nomination! Fact. Its true!!! Curiously Star Trek 2009 won an Oscar for makeup and now deja vu, we're back for Best Makeup and Hairstyle in 2017!
Did Star Trek Beyond deserve a final VISUAL EFFECTS Oscar Nomination?
Below Star Trek - Starfleet Academy is spliced together with Star Trek - Klingon Academy. These two video games have been combined into a movie. The good news is you can now watch both (1997) editions right here at Star Trek Sci Fi Blog. Its worth realising Harve Bennett had originally penned "Star Trek: The Academy Years" as Star Trek: The First Adventure. The plan was to project the Star Trek movie missions onto the big screen.
It turns out differences in money, power, creativity, ego, health, availability altered the eventual flow of Star Trek's "First Adventure" in our timeline. While Fans still have "Star Trek Starfleet Academy" (game) and the spliced(movie) to enjoy. What really happened afterwards? Long story short, along came Star Trek 2009.
So I've done a little digging and found an interesting segment on Memory Alpha you might find fascinating.
The 2009 film Star Trek, written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, superficially borrowed the same basic premise of Bennett's film by returning the franchise to the Academy years of the original crew, how they first met, and how they first came aboard the USS Enterprise. Aside from these surface similarities, the plotlines of these two films are significantly different. When asked about the 2009 film, Bennett said, "I did see it. I'm not the audience for that. Rapid cuts. Explosions. Gore for the sake of gore. Either that makes me a dinosaur or there's a generational problem, but that's not J.J.'s fault."
Who deserves the credit for Star Trek's First Adventure? which was also made into a blockbuster movie in (2009)?
1. Gene Roddenberry 2. J.J. Abrams 3. Harve Bennett Merry Christmas Everyone, Live long and Prosper.
On a sad note, well known Land of the Giants, Star Trek actor,
Don Marshall passed away peacefully on Oct 30th. His daughter,
son and twin brother Doug were at his bedside. He was 80. Don
starred in Star Trek's classic "galileo-seven" playing the spirited Lieutenant Boma.
STAR TREKS GALILEO SEVEN
Fans will remember him
for challenging Mr Spock's insufferable logic when the
shuttlecraft crash lands on planet Taurus II. We know the ion
storm threw them off course but heres the thing. The G7 crew
were low on fuel and had to achieve orbit.
So who gets to
choose? demands Boma of Mr Spock. Meanwhile the creatures were attacking! Don Marshall will not be forgotten by fans, RIP
Don and thanks for making us laugh.
Bryan Fuller bids farewell to Star Trek Discovery as the Lead writer and creative trek mastermind. He stays on as Executive Producer while moving on to other projects. Lately trek's fledgling Discovery series has been making headlines withAlex Kurtzman and Bryan Fuller. They wrote Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek 2009, DS9 and Voyager a while ago kicking them up with the super mythological, and psychological extraordinaire.
The sticking point for trek's producers appears to exist in Star Trek TOS. Writers keep drawing upon the magnetic nature of its classic lifeforms, amazing story arcs and strange unknowns.
Meanwhile a conflict of interest has arisen with Fuller organizing his time between Trek, American Gods and Amazing Stories which means one had to go.
So now Star Trek fan Bryan Fuller is stepping aside to juggle his duties. The plan is to clear a path for new ideas giving Star Trek Discovery's lifeforms breathing room to traverse the galaxy, analyze strange unknowns and wow the fans.
It clear CBS welcomed a kindred spirit to explore and develop the continuity of Star Trek's timeline. The word at Variety is Fuller, teased out new revelations to the fan community at Comic Con. Mythological diversity, using a LGBT character, the welcome delight of aliens, and also what greatness a leading woman would take, clearly on the table.
What we're doing is not necessarily new in Star Trek but we get to embrace it in a modern way that Star Trek has not indulged in much in the past.
Over the last few days fans are finding out now Bryan Fuller is stepping away as the showrunner for the new CBS Star Trek Discovery show. So whats happened?
Show
business trekkies!
The day to day
running of Star Trek Discovery leaves Fullers lieutenants - Gretchen Berg and Aaron
Harberts taking over the show. Writer director Akiva Goldman is also expected to join "Discovery" in a top creative role. Supporting Berg and Harberts. Filming will begin next month with a
2017 premiere date - pushed back to May.
Heres what we know about Star Trek Discovery so far:
1. The series is 10 years before Star Trek the Original
Series.
2. Mysterious history will emerge.
3. A fascinating amount of aliens will boldy go where no alien has gone before in
Star Trek's universe.
4. The lead character is not going to be a male captain. Qualities will include: a neurosis, sense of humor and shes female.
5. "Its not on Earth and its not on a planet."
6. New young blood ready to shoot first and ask questions later - all based on TOS iconic
characters of course. Robots get the thumbs up. Don't you just love Robots?
7. No Romulan War, No Kobayashi Maru, maybe some Section 31
and an iteration of Amanda Grayson's storyline, (Spock's
Mother) into the show.
8. Lee Pace as has agreed to play a Vulcan.
9. Seven characters will play key figures in the show.
10. Graphic scenes, profanity is still being weighed up owing
to the wider audience CBS ALL Access will be able to reach.
11. Star Trek Discovery is planned to premiere in the US in January 2017
12. Discovery will be on Netflix by the end of 2017.
14. The rank of the lead character is a Lieutenant Commander and her name is No 1 ?
15. No Captain?!
Will you be watching Star Trek Discovery on CBS or Netflix? Who do you want to be Discoveries Lead Writer? Who are you rooting for? Man, Alien or Woman? What kind of leader are you hoping for? Captain, Alien, Robot or Android? Is Star Trek trying to be too politically correct?
William Shatner, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Terry Farrell, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden, Robert Duncan McNeill, Armin Shimerman, Christopher Lloyd, Martha Hackett and Alice Krige (the Borg Queen in Star Trek: First Contact) but no Nichelle Nichols beam over to the UK to meet the fans for Star Trek's 50th Anniversary.
Many fans eager to meet the stars tweeted while they waited. Trekkers with Admiral VIP Tickets swept by tons of people waiting in queues which took two hours to get past the check points. The only catch is VIP treatment cost £2,999! Standard Tickets were far cheaper.
Adam Nimoy, Leonard Nimoys son is seated in command of the Galaxy Class USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D seen here. Space babes Marina Sirtis and Terry Farrell were also among the stars this weekend at Birmingham's Destination Star Trek Convention.
Over the weekend thousands of Star Trek fans queued for hours to get in on the action with their Star Trek TV/Movie heroes. Marie Gordon flashes her Lieutenant stripes on her red bridge officers duty uniform to curry favor but no can do! It just goes to show. Even Star Trek Lieutenants have to wait. haha!!!
On Sunday William took part in answering questions for the fans. Heres a fun video he made specially for fans.
Walter Koenig appeared with George Takei live onstage at Star Trek's Birmingham Convention. These two Chekov and Sulu navigate and pilot the Starship USS Enterprise 1701
This photograph says it all. Its the launch for Star Trek's UK Destination event and the expression on the stars faces is fascinating...... William Shatner has done it again. The look on Walter Koenig's face is priceless.
DRESSING TO IMPRESS
These sci-fi ladies are making the most out of Star Trek's 50th Destination Event. They probably handed their tricorder, phasers and communicators over to an Ensign during the photoshoot. So whats not to like?
Its Star Treks 50th Anniversary so you'll be sure to have something to enjoy with STAR TREK BEYOND. You might say this is Chekov's last stand in this adventurous new Star Trek movie. The action sequences are thrilling and the visual effects are stunning.
So go see Beyond you'll be delighted that you did. Its got a cold hearted villain Krall who chews up the landscape and interesting to see new Spock trying to understand his own death in the movie- in loving memory of Leonard Nimoy and for Anton.
Its been a busy week for Sci-Fi with Star Trek Beyond showing in
London last week and Sydney too. I'm not counting my tribbles yet before
they become fully gorged but STB is 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and 71% on Metacritic so far.
So now Star Trek Beyond is set for US
release on the 22nd of July 2016 and is opening up in theaters
worldwide and beyond.
We've been waiting for 3 sensational years to see a new STAR TREK movie
since STID. How long is that? Approx 1095 days. I hope you're all set for a
trektastic time!
The question in my mind is: why did Captain Kirk
wreck the bl**dy ship again? Is it
really the Captain's fault the Enterprise got ravaged by alien "Swarms"
with their leader "Krall at the heart of the matter? Word has it Idris Elba's character means business because he wants the "ITEM", badly.
Scotty, Jaylah and Kirk
Ahhha! I hear you ask. What is the item? SPOILER ALERT: So now the five year mission for the USS Enterprise NCC 1701 is finally justified when the crew discover this ancient "death machine" in the furthest reaches of unexplored space. But do they know what it is? It seems
time is running out for our Gallant Crew and worse still for the
Federation itself.
Unity and Peace in the Galaxy may very well depend upon our friends very survival.
Three
years into the Enterprise's five-year deep-space mission our mysterious Swarm ringleader Krall (Idris Elba) sees an opportunity. He has to get the ancient "death machine" of
ultimate power, an artifact which Kirk's crew are custodians. I know
what your thinking - its looking hopeless because the Enterprise crew are stranded on an alien planet!!! Hey. At least Scotty teams up
with feisty Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), a potential love interest if
only he'd stop calling her lassie.
The good news is Paramounts 3D and; 2D Star Trek threequel is directed
by (Fast and Furious) Justin Lin (produced by J.J. Abrams) How many
of our movie predictions will come true? 40 stunt people is a good
indication of where Star Trek Beyond is headed with special effects
and alien relationships evolving with this interstellar space
adventure. Curiously Star Trek Into Darkness had 90 reinforcements. Why is Uhura screaming with the grey alien looking on?
IMAGE OWNER/CREATOR: PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND OR CBS STUDIOS
MattTwentySix had this to say: It's a little Insurrection-ish once they're planet-
side. There's another major twist with the villain (though I enjoyed
it). But it gets the characters really right. It basically has a
fantastic first act, an okay second act, and a fun ending that both
serves as an ending to this cast and a jump-start to further
adventures with them.
What do you think? Have you got your "Starfleet" T-shirt all nice and
pressed for the movie? XD, Go on do tell us if you have!
Star Trek Beyond kicked off for its UK debut in London Monday last with British Star Trek fans squealing in delight and super sci-fi fans flying in from across the waters to see their Star Trek heroes at Leicester Square. Trekcore have an awesome gallery of 65 STB Premiere shots taken from the July 12th seen here.. You can watch the white carpet extravaganza for STB's British Premiere for fun - here. Were you in the audience?
Heres a recent photo of the villain 'Krall' played by Idris Elba for the next trek movie - STAR TREK BEYOND on 22nd July. It turns out Elba revealed this photo of himself looking mean from the movies set. (Trekcore)
It seems Krall is ready to unleash his burning hatred upon the
Federation for reasons not yet known except for a "GLOWING GREEN ARTIFACT" as the only clue and guess where it is? So now we guess why the
swarm ships attack the USS Enterprise NCC 1701.
Heres the third major Star Trek Beyond trailer by Director Justin Lin.. Hes the real deal with Star Wars Director JJ Abrams producing Star Trek Beyond. So now this trekkie blockbuster is set to hit movie theaters in REAL 3D and IMAX 3D for 22nd July. However the sudden death of Anton Yelchin has affected everyone who knew the poor lad at home and abroad. Trailer #3 features a striking song by Barbadian music artist Robyn Rihanna Fenty with "Sledgehammer"
Shes one of the more popular songwriters/singers on the face of the planet with sales exceeding 200 million records worldwide. Robyn is big Star Trek news and has a beautiful voice. So now here she is giving her song to Star Trek Beyond. You guys will just have to watch the movie to enjoy her music which is remarkable and operatic enough to give the Enterprise crew all the punch they deserve. "I hit a wall"
Will Rihanna's voice steal the show?
or will Director Justin Lin win the audience over with his fast and furious moves in Star Trek Beyond?
