Sci-Fi Storm

LOVEFiLM writes tlhIngan maH!
KLINGONS REVIEW THE NEW STAR TREK

Boldly going where no film review has gone before, a pair of Klingons have delivered their verdict on J.J.Abrams’ Star Trek in the world’s first ever Klingon film review.

LOVEFiLM.com the UK’s largest online DVD & games rental service and entertainment website, dispatched General Sol’Rac and General Karloth, High Council members of the Imperial Klingon Expeditionary Forces (IKEF) to watch the film and report back their findings in native tongue ‘tlhIngan Hol’.”

More below.

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Barbara Peterson writes “Walter Matthew “Matt” Jefferies was the art designer for the original Star Trek TV series, and designed “the most famous star ship in the world,” the USS Enterprise. He also owned and flew a Waco biplane, on display now at the Virginia Aviation Museum, on the grounds of the Richmond International Airport, Richmond, Virginia, and sculpted an absolutely spectacular Enterprise space scene (the Enterprise, a sun, a planet)which is on view there…. and also on view in my blog entry, located here: http://dailyspace.blogspot.com/2009/05/matt-jeffer ies-star-trek-designer.html“

Harlan Ellison, who wrote the script for the original Star Trek episode “City On The Edge Of Forever”, has filed suit against Paramount for use of the work without paying him for revenues, mostly on derivative works based on the situations and plot of “City”, and even a Hallmark ornament of the Guardian Of Forever. Also named in the suit is the Writers Guild of America, for failing to act on Ellison’s behalf. And in true Ellison character he says, “I’m no hypocrite. It ain’t about the ‘principle,’ friend, its about the MONEY! Pay Me! Am I doing this for other writers, for Mom (still dead), and apple pie? Hell no! I’m doing it for the 35-year-long disrespect and the money!”

Sure…after I update my store…TrekMovie.com is breaking the story that the original Star Trek Series is getting a Blu-Ray release in April and May, with Season 1 due April 28th. This will include being able to see the episodes in their Remastered form or seamlessly branch with the original effects, plus extra goodies. List price is pretty expensive (US$118) but we’ll see how that plays out. On May 12th BD versions of the first six movies in a single pack, and a trilogy of the second, third and fourth movies will be released (no word on individual releases). Update: Links to pre-order are now in place and the store has been updated as well.

I’ve done some housekeeping and updates to the Sci-Fi Storm Stores. Check out the stores for anything you need to fill out your collections – and in some cases, getting the new all-inclusive sets might be cheaper than getting a few of the individual items. Some new updates: The next classic episodes of Doctor Who come out May 5th and are The E-Space Trilogy (Full Circle/State of Decay/Warriors’ Gate) and “Battlefield” (and a reminder that the Key To Time episodes are out March 3rd); Season 1 of Earth: Final Conflict is finally being released, years after seasons 3-5; The DVD packs of the Star Trek have been replaced by the Remastered editions, and there is a new Complete Movie Collection that is quite reasonably priced; and the Stargate SG-1 DVD releases of The Ark Of Truth and Continuum get a combined Blu-Ray disc along with a DVD set March 3rd. And a reminder – buying ANYTHING from Amazon.com after following our links helps keep us here.

Ricardo Montalban, best known as Mr. Rourke on Fantasy Island and perhaps some Chrysler commercials but better known among genre fans in perhaps his best role as Khan Noonian Singh in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan and also won an Emmy for role in How The West Was Won and the SAG Lifetime Achievement award in 1994, passed away this morning at the age of 88.

Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry who also played several roles in the various incarnations of Star Trek (from Number One in the original pilot, Nurse/Doctor Christine Chapel in the original series and movies, Lwaxana Troi in The Next Generation, and the computer voice in ALL series and movies, including the upcoming J.J. Abrams film, passed away today at the age of 76 from Leukemia.

When the third SpaceX Falcon 1 launch vehicle failed to achieve orbit (due to failure of the second stage to separate from the first) it did so with the ashes of 208 people on board, including actor James Doohan (Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery “Scotty” Scott on Star Trek, as if I need to tell you) and former astronaut Gordon Cooper. I haven’t seen much data to know whether the rocket at least achieved “outer space” before it was (presumably) destroyed. It also had 3 satellites on board. Despite yet another failure (the Falcon 1 is 0-for-3), SpaceX founder Elon Musk vows to continue, with plans for the much bigger Falcon 9 pressing forward.

William Shatner, who like a lot of actors it seems avoids watching himself in his roles, recently caught himself on TV during a sleepless night recovering from hip surgery. He saw the original Star Trek episode “A Piece Of The Action”, in which Kirk and Spock beam down to a planet that modeled itself after the Chicago gang wars of the 1920s. What did he think? “You know, that’s rather good.”

It’s been a particularly bad couple of weeks for crew of the Enterprise. Star Trek producer Robert H. Justman, who worked on the original series as well as Star Trek: The Next Generation (and was instrumental in getting Patrick Stewart cast) passed away Wednesday due to complications of Parkinson’s Disease. He was 81. I’ll leave off the transporter jokes that are being done to death, but I like this quote from his son: “There seems to be a big ‘Star Trek’ convention and everyone is going,” Jonathan Justman said. “Everyone is getting beamed up.”